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EDITED    BY    "ONE   OF   'EM.» 


^ut  NoTtje  tut  Emeritans  on  (Ecuarli  to-itigtt." 


NEW   YORK; 

J.    0.    DERBY,    119    :N"ASSAU    STREET. 

BOSTON: 

PHILLIPS,    SAMPSON    &    CO. 

oiNcnrxATi : 
H.    W.    DERBY. 

1855. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  by  J.  C.  DERBY,  in  the  Clerk's  Offica 

of  the  U.  S.  District  Court  for  the  Southern  District  of  New  York,  in  the 

year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  eight  hundred  \nd  fifty-four. 


•:  i' 


W.  H.   TTXSO-V, 
PKINTEB   AND  STEREOTTPBM, 

24   Btekmaa   Street. 


A"/  If 

wc 

nk\^ 

THIS 

GIFT 

IS  fMTSEMALLI  iSBSeMSB  . 

©0     tjt 

SONS  AND  DAUGHTERS  OF 

AMERICA, 

■    a« 

A  TOKEN  OP  FILIAL  AJFECTION 

COMMON      MOTHER, 

Whose  Beauty,  unlike  that  of  other  Mothers,  increases  with  Her  Years, 
and  Her  Strength  with  the  Number  of  Her  Children. 


248973 


IPrefaturg. 


J^EiTiiER  Preface  uor  Apology  is  necessary  to  intro- 
duce to  the  American  public  a  volume  so  thoroughly 
American  in  subject  and  in  sentiment,  and  so 
purely  a  product  of  American  talent  and  genius 
as  this,  which  we  proudly  hand  to  the  American 
reader.  Having  culled  our  bouquet  from  among 
the  choicest  flowers  of  native  Eloquence  and  Poetry, 
we  lay  the  Patriotic  Offering  upon  the  altar 
of  American  Liberty,  believing  that  the  incense 
thereof  will  prove  a  "  sweet-smelling  savor "  in  the 
nostrils  of  all  who  love  the  aroma  of  their  Native 
Land. 

THE  EDITOR. 

Naw  YoKK,  October,  1864. 


Ccrnttnts. 


Pag. 

Washingtoa's  Farewell  Address,    . 



13 

The  American  Flag, 

J.  R.  Drake. 

37 

The  Bible, 

B.  W.Emerson.     . 

89 

America  for  Americans,         .... 

K.  Y.  Mirror. 

40 

The  Mother  of  Washington,  .... 

Mrs.  L.  H.  Sigourney 

44 

The  Twenty-second  of  December, 

W:  a  Bryant. 

46 

The  Bible  in  Schools, 

Hon.  J.  W.  Sa/oage. 

4T 

Star-Spangled  Banner,           .  — *.. 

F.  S.  Key.       .        . 

52 

The  "  Know  Nothings,            .... 

Dr.  Thomas  E.  Bond 

54 

Hail,  Columbia, 

Joseph  Hopkitison. 

64 

Romanism  and  Liberty,          .... 

2f.   Y.  Mirror.      . 

66 

The  Heart  of  Seventy-Six,    .... 

Jane  Gay  Fuller. 

71 

Webster's  Reply  to  Htilsemann,    . 



74 

The  Launch  of  the  Ship,         .... 

H.  W.  Longfelloio. 

95 

Wide  Awake. 

97 

Romanism, 

H.  Fuller.       .        . 

89 

Bunker  HiU, 

RicJiard  Raywarde. 

101 

Best  Policy  in  Regard  to  Naturalization, 

L.O.  Levin.    .        . 

107 

The  Scar  of  Lexington,           .        .        .        .        . 

n.F.Goxad. 

109 

Native  Land, 

H.  Fuller.       .        . 

111 

Union,     ....... 

113 

The  Preservation  of  the  Union,    .        .                 . 

Hon.  Daniel  Webster. 

115 

Ode  for  the  Fourth  of  July,  1833,  . 

MaHa  James. 

117 

The  Fourth  of  July, 

Hon.  Daniel  Webster. 

119 

Seventy-Six, 

W.  C.  Bryant. 

122 

The  Youth  of  Washington,     . 

E.Everett.     . 

124 

Columbia, 

T.Dwight.     . 

127 

The  Death  of  Washington,    .... 

John  M.  Mason.    . 

129 

Monody  on  the  Death  of  Washington,  . 

B.Alsop. 

131 

The  Mayflower, 

E.  Everett.     . 

133 

The  Pilgrim  Fathers, 

John  Pierpont.      . 

135 

The  Memory  of  our  Fathers, 

Dr.  Beecher. 

137 

The  Union  and  its  Q-overnment,   . 

W.  0.  Simms. 

140 

The  Puritans, 

E.  P.  Whipple.      . 

142 

The  Eagle,              

J.  G.  Percival.      . 

144 

CONTENTS. 


Supposed  Speech  of  Adams  In  Favor  of  the  DC' 

claration  of  Independence, 
America,  Commerce,  and  Freedom 
Embassy  to  Rome, 
The  Roman  Catholic  Religion, 
Old  Ironsides, 
Patriotism, 

Monument  to  the  Pilgrims, 
Freedom, 
New  England, 
Mount  Vernon, 
The  Mothers  of  the  West 
Science  Friendly  to  Freedom 
Adams  and  Liberty, 
Teachings  of  the  Revolution, 
Americans  who  Fell  at  Eutaw, 
Patrick  Henry  before  a  Convention  of  Delegates 

Virginia, 

Fourth  of  July, 

Marion,  the  Republican  General, 

Native  Land, 

Warren's  Address  to  his  Soldiers  before  the  Battle 

of  Bunker  HUl, 
American  Women, 
Landing  of  the  Pilgrims, 
Rejoicings  on  Repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act 
Our  Country,  .... 

Antiquity  of  Freedom. 
Enterprise  and  Boxer, 
The  Pilgrim  Fathers, 
It  is  Great  for  our  Country  to  Die, 
Dicey  Langston,      .        . 
The  Victoria  Vase,  Won  by  the  Yacht  America. 

at  the  late  Ryde  Regatta, 
Sergeant  Jasper,     . 
True  Glory  of  America,  . 
Christian  Woman  in  the  Hour  of  3)anger, 
Liberty, 


Puge 


Battle  of  Lake  Champlain,     . 

New  England's  Dead,      . 

What  Constitutes  a  State, 

Blessing  the  Beasts, 

Do  Right,         .... 

The  Silent  Scourge, 

My  Own  Green  Mountain  Land, 

Republics — Ancient  and  Modern, 

The  American  Farmer 


Hon.  Daniel  Webster. 
Susannah  Howson. 
L.  C.  Levin. 
Grace  Greemcood. 
0.  W.  Holmes. 


2f.  Y.  Mirror. 


J.  G.  Percival. 
Eradm  Brooks. 
W.  D.  Gallagher. 
E.  II.  Chapin. 
R.  T.  Paine. 
Jared  Sparks. 
P.  Freneau.  . 


J.  Pierpont. 


K.  I 


Hon. 


W. 
J.G. 


Mirror. 


George  Bancroft 


W.  C.  Bryant. 


^  Burleigh. 
Percival. 


Hon.  Caleb  Lyon. 


G.  Mdlen. 


L.  MoLeilan,  Jr. 
Grace  Greemcood. 
21.  Y.  Mirror. 


Anonymous. 


CX)NTI!>XT3. 


XI 


A  Sacrifice  for  Freedom, 

Foreign  Military  Organizations, 

A  Patriotic  Donation, 

The  Freeman's  Home,     . 

■Washington,    . 

»Tis  a  Glorious  Land, 

The  Women  of  the  Mayflower, 

Washington  Crossing  the  Delaware, 

The  Monument  to  Mary  "Washington, 

Revolutionary  Tea, 

Declaration  of  Independence, 

Constitution  of  the  United  States, 


By  the  Editor. 


J.  G.  Whittier. 
Chief  Justice  Marshall. 
W.  J.  Pabodie.      . 
E.  Oakes  Smith.   . 
Seba  Smith. 
Andrew  Jackson. 
Seba  Smith. 


250 
251 
253 
254 
257 
262 
264 
274 
276 
279 
281 


WASHmGTON'S  FAREWELL  ADDRESS. 


Friends  and  Fellow-Citizens  : — The  period  for  a  new 
election  of  a  citizen  to  administer  the  executive  government 
of  the  United  States  being  not  far  distant,  and  the  time 
actually  arrived  when  your  thoughts  must  be  employed  in 
designating  the  person  who  is  to  be  clothed  with  that  import- 
ant trust,  it  appears  to  me  proper,  especially  as  it  may 
conduce  to  a  more  distinct  expression  of  the  public  voice,  that 
I  should  now  apprise  you  of  the  resolution  I  have  formed,  to 
decline  being  considered  among  the  number  of  those  out  of 
whom  a  choice  is  to  be  made. 

I  beg  you,  at  the  same  time,  to  do  me  the  justice  to  be 
assured  that  this  resolution  has  not  been  taken  without  a 
strict  regard  to  all  the  considerations  appertaining  to  the 
relation  which  binds  a  dutiful  citizen  to  his  country ;  and 
that,  in  withdrawing  the  tender  of  service  which  silence  in 
my  situation  might  imply,  I  am  influenced  by  no  diminution 
of  zeal  for  your  future  interest — no  deficiency  of  grateful 
respect  for  your  past  kindness — but  am  supported  by  a  full, 
conviction  that  the  step  is  compatible  with  both. 

The  acceptance  of,  and  continuance  hitherto  in  the  oflBco 


14  Washington's    farewell    address. 

to  which  your  suffrages  have  twice  called  me,  have  been  a 
uniform  sacrifice  of  inclination  to  the  opinion  of  duty,  and  to 
a  deference  for  what  appeared  to  be  your  desire.  I  con- 
stantly hoped  that  it  would  have  been  much  earlier  in  my 
power,  consistently  with  motives  which  I  was  not  at  liberty 
to  disregard,  to  return  to  that  retirement  from  which  I  had 
been  reluctantly  drawn.  The  strength  of  my  inclination  to 
do  this,  previous  to  the  last  election,  had  even  led  to  the 
preparation  of  an  address  to  declare  it  to  you  ;  but  mature 
reflection  on  the  then  perplexed  and  critical  posture  of  our 
affairs  with  foreign  nations,  and  the  unanimous  advice  of 
persons  entitled  to  my  confidence,  impelled  me  to  abandon 
the  idea. 

I  rejoice  that  the  state  of  your  concerns,  external  as  well 
as  internal,  no  longer  renders  the  pursuits  of  inclination  mcom- 
patible  with  the  sentiment  of  duty,  or  propriety ;  and  am 
persuaded  that  whatever  partiality  may  be  retained  for  my 
services,  in  the  present  cbcumstances  of  our  country,  you  A^ill 
not  disapprove  of  my  determination  to  retire. 

The  impressions  with  which  I  first  undertook  the  arduous 
trust,  were  explained  on  the  proper  occasion.  In  the  dis- 
charge of  this  trust,  I  will  only  say  that  I  have,  with  good 
intentions,  contributed  towards  the  organization  and  adminis- 
tration of  the  government,  the  best  exertions  of  which  a  very 
fallible  judgment  was  capable.  Not  unconscious,  in  the  out- 
set, of  the  inferiority  of  my  qualifications,  experience  in  my 
own  eyes,  perhaps  still  more  in  the  eyes  of  others,  has  strength- 
ened the  motives  to  diffidence  of  myself ;  and  every  day  the 


Washington's    farewell    address.  15 

increasing  weight  of  years  admonishes  me  more  and  more  that 
the  shade  of  retirement  is  as  necessary  to  me  as  it  will  be 
welcome.  Satisfied  that  if  any  circumstances  have  given 
peculiar  value  to  my  services  they  were  temporary,  I  have  the 
consolation  to  believe  that,  while  choice  and  prudence  invite 
me  to  quit  the  political  scene,  patriotism  does  not  forbid  it. 

In  looking  forward  to  the  moment  which  is  intended  to 
terminate  the  career  of  my  public  life,  my  feelings  do  not 
permit  me  to  suspend  the  deep  acknowledgment  of  that  debt 
of  gratitude  which  I  owe  to  my  beloved  country,  for  the 
many  honors  it  has  conferred  upon  me ;  still  more  for  the 
steadfast  confidence  with  which  it  has  supported  me,  and  for 
the  opportunities  I  have  thence  enjoyed  of  manifesting  my 
inviolable  attachment,  by  services  faithful  and  persevering, 
though  in  usefulness  unequal  to  my  zeal.  If  benefits  have 
resulted  to  our  country  fi'om  these  services,  let  it  always  be 
remembered  to  your  praise,  as  an  instructive  example  in  our 
annals,  that  under  circumstances  in  which  the  passions, 
agitated  in  every  direction,  were  liable  to  mislead,  amidst 
appearances  sometimes  dubious — vicissitudes  of  fortune  often 
discouraging, — in  situations  in  which  not  unfrequently  want 
of  success  has  countenanced  the  spirit  of  criticism — the 
constancy  of  your  support  was  the  essential  prop  of  the 
efforts  and  a  guarantee  of  the  plans  by  which  they  were 
effected.  Profoundly  penetrated  with  this  idea,  I  shall  cany 
it  with  me  to  my  grave,  as  a  strong  incitement  to  unceasing 
prayers  that  heaven  may  continue  to  you  the  choicest  tokens 
of  its  beneficence — that  your  union  and  brotherly  affection 


16  Washington's    farewell    address. 

may  be  perpetual — that  the  free  Constitution,  w^hich  is  the 
work  of  your  hands,  may  be  sacredly  maintained — ^that  its 
administration  in  every  department  may  be  stamped  with 
wisdom  and  vu-tue — that,  in  fine,  the  happiness  of  the  people 
of  these  States,  under  the  auspices  of  liberty,  may  be  made 
complete,  by  so  careful  a  preservation  and  so  prudent  a  use 
of  this  blessmg  as  will  acquire  to  them  the  glory  of  recom- 
mending it  to  the  applause,  the  affection,  and  adoption  of 
every  nation  which  is  yet  a  stranger  to  it. 

Here,  perhaps,  I  ought  to  stop.  But  a  solicitude  for  your 
welfare,  which  cannot  end  but  with  hfe,  and  the  apprehension 
of  danger,  natural  to  that  solicitude,  urge  me,  on  an  occasion 
like  the  present,  to  offer  to  your  solemn  contemplation,  and 
to  recommend  to  your  frequent  review,  some  sentiments, 
which  are  the  result  of  much  reflection,  of  no  inconsiderable 
observation,  and  which  appear  to  me  all-important  to  the 
permanency  of  your  felicity  as  a  people.  These  will  be 
offered  to  you  with  the  more  freedom,  as  you  can  only  see  in 
them  the  disinterested  warnings  of  a  parting  friend,  who  can 
possibly  have  no  personal  motive  to  bias  his  counsel.  Nor 
can  I  forget,  as  encouragement  to  it,  your  indulgent  reception 
of  my  sentiments  on  a  former  and  not  dissunilar  occasion. 

Interwoven  as  is  the  love  of  liberty  with  every  ligament 
of  your  hearts,  no  recommendation  of  mine  is  necessary  to 
fortify  or  confirm  the  attachment. 

The  unity  of  government  which  constitutes  you  one  people 
is  also  now  dear  to  you.  It  is  justly  so ;  for  it  is  a  main 
pUlar  in  the  edifice  o'  your  real  independence,  the  support  of 


It 

your  tranquillity  at  home,  your  peace  abroad ;  of  your 
safety  ;  of  your  prosperity  ;  of  that  very  liberty  which  you  so 
highly  prize.  But  a.s  it  is  easy  to  foresee,  that  from  different 
causes,  and  from  different  quarters,  much  pains  will  be  taken, 
many  artifices  employed  to  weaken  in  your  minds  the  convic- 
tion of  this  truth  ;  as  this  is  the  point  in  your  pohtical  fortress 
against  which  the  batteries  of  internal  and  external  enemies 
will  be  most  constantly  and  actively  (though  often  covertly 
and  insidiously)  du'ected,  it  is  of  infinite  moment,  that  you 
should  properly  estimate  the  immense  value  of  your  national 
union  to  your  collective  and  individual  happiness ;  that  you 
should  cherish  a  cordial,  habitual,  and  immovable  attachment 
to  it ;  accustoming  yourselves  to  think  and  speak  of  it  as  the 
palladium  of  your  pohtical  safety  and  prosperity  ;  watching 
for  its  preservation  with  jealous  anxiety ;  discountenancing 
whatever  may  suggest  even  a  suspicion  that  it  can  in  any 
event  be  abandoned  ;  and  indignantly  frowning  upon  the  first 
dawning  of  every  attempt  to  alienate  any  portion  of  our 
country  from  the  rest,  or  to  enfeeble  the  sacred  ties  wliich 
now  luik  together  the  various  parts. 

For  this  you  have  every  inducement  of  sympathy  and 
interest.  Citizens  by  birth  or  choice,  of  a  common  country, 
that  country  has  a  right  to  concentrate  your  affections.  The 
name  of  American,  which  belongs  to  you,  in  your  national 
capacity,  must  always  exalt  the  just  pride  of  patriotism,  more 
than  any  appellation  derived  from  local  discriminations. 
With  slight  shades  of  difference,  you  have  the  same  religion, 
manners,  habits,  and   political   principles.     You  have,  in  a 


18  Washington's    farewell    address. 

common  cause,  fought  and  triumphed  together  ;  the  indepen- 
dence and  liberty  you  possess  are  the  work  of  joint  councils, 
and  joint  eflbrts  :  of  common  danger,  sufferings,  and  success. 

But  these  considerations,  however  powerfully  they  address 
themselves  to  your  sensibility,  are  greatly  outweighed  by 
those  which  apply  more  immediately  to  your  interest.  Here, 
every  portion  of  our  country  finds  the  most  commanding 
motives  for  carefully  guarding  and  preserving  the  union  of  the 
whole. 

The  North,  in  an  um'estrained  intercom'se  with  the  South, 
protected  by  the  equal  laws  of  a  common  government,  finds, 
in  the  productions  of  the  latter,  great  additional  resom*ces  of 
maritime  and  commercial  entei-prise,  and  precious  material 
of  manufacturing  industry.  The  South,  in  the  same  inter- 
com'se, benefiting  by  the  agency  of  the  North,  sees  its  agri- 
culture grow  and  its  commerce  expand.  Turnmg  partly 
into  its  own  channels  the  seamen  of  the  North,  it  finds  its 
particular  navigation  invigorated ;  and  while  it  contributes, 
in  different  w^ays,  to  nourish  and  increase  the  general  mass  of 
the  national  navigation,  it  looks  forward  to  the  protection  of 
a  maritime  strength,  to  which  itself  is  imequally  adapted. 
The  East,  in  a  like  intercourse  with  the  West,  already  finds, 
and  in  the  progressive  improvement  of  interior  communications 
by  land  and  water,  will  more  and  more  find  a  valuable  vent 
for  the  commodities  which  it  brings  from  abroad,  or  manufac- 
tures at  home.  The  West  derives  from  the  East  supplies 
requisite  to  its  gTOwth  and  comfort — and  what  is  perhaps  of 
still  greater  consequence,  it  must  of  necessity  owe  the  secure 


19 

enjoyment  of  indispensable  outlets  for  its  own  productions  to 
the  weight,  influence,  and  the  future  maritime  strength  of  the 
Atlantic  side  of  the  Union,  du'ected  by  an  indissoluble  com- 
munity of  interest  as  one  nation.  Any  other  tenure  by  which 
the  West  can  hold  this  essential  advantage,  whether  derived 
from  its  own  separate  strength,  or  from  an  apostate  and 
unnatural  connection  with  any  foreign  power,  must  be  intrin- 
sically precarious. 

While,  then,  every  part  of  our  country  thus  feels  an  immedi- 
ate and  particular  interest  in  union,  all  the  parts  combined 
cannot  fail  to  find,  in  the  united  mass  of  means  and  efforts, 
greater  strength,  greater  resource,  proportionably  greater 
security  from  external  danger,  a  less  frequent  interruption  of 
their  peace  by  foreig-n  nations, — and  what  is  of  inestimable 
value,  they  must  derive  from  union  an  exemption  from  those 
wars  and  broils  between  themselves,  which  so  frequently 
afflict  neighbormg  countries  not  tied  together  by  the  same 
government  ;  which  their  own  rivalships  alone  would  be  suffi- 
cient to  produce,  but  which  opposite  foreign  alhances,  attach- 
ments, and  intrigues  would  stimulate  and  embitter.  Hence, 
likewise,  they  wUl  avoid  the  necessity  of  those  overgrown 
military  estabhshments,  which  under  any  form  of  government 
are  inauspicious  to  liberty,  and  which  are  to  be  regarded  as 
particularly  hostile  to  repubhcan  hberty  :  iu  this  sense  it  is, 
that  your  miion  ought  to  be  considered  as  a  main  prop  of 
your  liberty,  and  that  the  love  of  the  one  ought  to  endear  to 
you  the  preservation  of  the  other. 

These  considerations  speak  a  persuasive  language  to  every 


20  Washington's    farewell    address. 

reflecting  and  virtuous  mind,  and  exhibit  the  continuance  of 
the  union  as  a  primary  object  of  patriotic  desire.  Is  there  a 
doubt  whether  a  common  government  can  embrace  so  large  a 
sphere  ?  Let  experience  solve  it.  To  listen  to  mere  specula- 
tion in  such  a  case  w^ere  criminal.  We  are  authorized  to 
hope  that  a  proper  organization  of  the  whole,  with  the  auxili- 
ary agency  of  governments  for  the  respective  subdivisions,  will 
afford  a  happy  issue  to  the  experiment.  It  is  well  worth  a 
fair  and  full  experunent.  With  such  powerful  and  obvious 
motives  to  union,  affectmg  all  parts  of  our  countiy,  while 
experience  shall  not  have  demonstrated  its  impracticability, 
there  will  always  be  reason  to  distrust  the  patriotism  of  those, 
who  in  any  quarter  may  endeavor  to  w^eaken  its  bands. 

In  contemplating  the  causes  which  may  disturb  our  union, 
it  occurs  as  matter  of  serious  concern,  that  any  ground  should 
have  been  fui'nished  for  characterizing  parties  by  geographical 
discrimination — nortJiern  and  sowthern — Atlantic  a^westeni — • 
whence  designing  men  may  endeavor  to  excite  a  belief  that 
there  is  a  real  difference  of  local  interests  and  views.  One 
of  the  expedients  of  party  to  acquire  influence,  within  particu- 
lar districts,  is  to  misrepresent  the  opinions  and  aims  of  other 
districts.  You  cannot  shield  yourselves  too  much  against  the 
jealousies  and  heart-burnings  which  spring  from  these  misre- 
presentations ;  they  tend  to  render  alien  to  each  other  those 
who  ought  to  be  bound  together  by  fraternal  affection. 
The  inhabitants  of  our  western  country  have  lately  had  a 
useful  lesson  on  this  head  :  they  have  seen,  in  the  negotiation 
by  the  executive,  and  in  the  unanunous  ratification  by  the 


WASHINGTON    »      P^aBEWELL      ADDRESS.  21 

Senate,  of  the  treaty  with  Spam,  and  lu  the  universal  satis- 
faction at  -that  event,  thi'ough  the  United  cates,  a  decisive 
proof  how  unfounded  were  the  suspicions  propagated  among 
them  of  the  pohcy  in  the  genera,  government,  and  -in  the 
Atlantic  States,  unfriendly  to  then*  interests  in  regard 
of  the  Mssissippi :  they  have  been  witnesses  to  the  form- 
ation of  two  treaties — that  with  Great  Britani,  and  that 
with  Spaui — which  secure  to  them  everything  they  could 
desire  in  respect  to  our  foreign  relations,  toW' ards  confirming 
their  prosperity.  Will  it  not  be  their  wisdom  to  rely  for  the 
preservation  of  these  advantages  on  the  union  by  which  they 
were  procured  ?  Will  they  not  henceforth  be  deaf  to  those 
advisers,  if  such  there  are,  who  w^ould  sever  them  from  their 
brethren,  and  connect  them  with  aliens  ? 

To  the  efficacy  and  permanency  of  your  union,  a  government 
for  the  whole  is  indispensable.  IS'o  alhances,  how^ever  strict, 
between  i^  parts  can  be  an  adequate  substitute  ;  they  must 
inevitably  experience  the  infractions  and  mterruptions  which 
all  alliances  in  all  times  have  experienced.  Sensible  of  this 
momentous  truth,  you  have  improved  upon  your  first  essay, 
by  the  adoption  of  a  constitution  of  government,  better  cal- 
culated than  your  former,  for  an  intunate  union,  and  for  the 
efficacious  management  of  your  cgmmon  concerns.  This  gov- 
ernment, the  offspring  of  your  own  choice,  uninfluenced  and 
unawed  ;  adopted  upon  full  investigation  and  mature  dehbera- 
tion  ;  completely  free  in  its  principles  ;  in  the  distribution  of 
its  powers,  uniting  security  with  energy  ;  and  containing  within 
itself  a  provision  for  its  own  amendments,  has  a  just  claim  to 


22  Washington's    farewell    address. 

your  confidence  and  your  support.  Respect  for  its  authority, 
compliance  with  its  laws,  acquiescence  in  its  measures,  are 
duties  enjoined  by  the  fundamental  maxims  of  true  liberty. 
The  basis  of  our  political  system  is  the  right  of  the  people  to 
make  and  to  alter  theu*  constitutions  of  government.  But 
the  constitution  which  at  any  time  exists,  until  changed  by  an 
explicit  and  authentic  act  of  the  whole  people,  is  sacredly 
obligatory  upon  all.  The  very  idea  of  the  power  and  the 
right  of  the  people  to  estabUsh  a  government,  presupposes 
the  duty  of  every  individual  to  obey  the  established  govern- 
ment. 

All  obstructions  to  the  execution  of  the  laws,  all  combma- 
tions  and  associations,  under  whatever  plausible  character, 
with  the  real  design  to  direct,  control,  counteract,  or  awe  the 
regular  deliberations  and  actions  of  the  constituted  authoritiee 
are  destructive  of  this  fundamental  principle,  and  of  fata 
tendency.  They  serve  to  organize  faction  ;  to  g^fp  an  arti- 
ficial and  extraordinary  force  ;  to  put  in  the.  place  of  the 
delegated  will  of  the  nation,  the  will  of  a  party,  often  a  small, 
but  artful  and  enterprising  minority  of  the  community  ;  and 
according  to  the  alternate  triumphs  of  different  parties,  to 
make  the  pubUc  administration  the  muTor  of  the  ill-concerted 
and  mcongruous  projects  of  faction,  rather  than  the  organ  of 
consistent  and  wholesome  plans,  digested  by  common  councils, 
and  modified  by  mutual  interests. 

However  combmations  or  associations  of  the  above  descrip- 
tion may  now  and  then  answer  popular  ends,  they  are  likely, 
in  the  course  of  time  and  things,  to  become  potent  engines. 


Washington's    farewell    address.  23 

by  which  cunning,  ambitious,  and  unprincipled  men  will  be 
enabled  to  subvert  the  power  of  the  people,  and  to  usurp  for 
themselves  the  rems  of  government ;  destroymg  afterwards 
the  very  engines  which  have  lifted  them  to  unjust  dominion. 

Towards  the  preservation  of  your  government,  and  the  per- 
manency of  your  present  happy  state,  it  is  requisite  not  only 
that  you  steadily  discountenance  iiTegular  oppositions  to  its 
acknowledged  authority,  but  also  that  you  resist  with  care 
the  spirit  of  innovation  upon  its  principles,  however  specious 
the  pretexts.  One  method  of  assault  may  be  to  effect  in  the 
forms  of  the  Constitution  alterations  which  will  impair  the 
energy  of  the  system,  and  thus  to  undermine  what  cannot  be 
directly  overtlirown.  In  all  the  changes  to  which  you  may 
be  invited,  remember  that  tune  and  habit  are  at  least  as  neces- 
sary to  fix  the  true  character  of  governments,  as  of  other 
human  institutions  ;  that  experience  is  the  surest  standard,  )jy 
which  to  t^t  the  real  tendency  of  the  existing  constitution  of 
a  country ;  that  facility  in  changes  upon  the  credit  of  mere 
hypothesis  and  opmion,  exposes  to  perpetual  change  from  the 
endless  variety  of  hypothesis  and  opinion  :  and  remember, 
especially,  that  from  the  efficient  management  of  your  com- 
mon interests,  in  a  country  so  extensive  as  ours,  a  government 
of  as  much  vigor  as  is  consistent  with  the  perfect  security  of 
liberty,  is  indispensable.  Liberty  itself  will  find  in  such  a 
government,  with  powers  properly  distributed  and  adjusted, 
its  surest  guardian.  It  is,  indeed,  Uttle  else  than  a  name, 
where  the  government  is  too  feeble  to  withstand  the  enter- 
prises of  faction,  to  confine  each  member  of  the  society  witliin 


24  Washington's    fake  well    address. 

the  limits  prescribed  by  the  laws,  and  to  maintain  all  in  the 
secure  and  tranquil  enjoyment  of  the  rights  of  persons  and 
property. 

I  have  already  intimated  to  you  the  danger  of  parties  in 
the  State,  with  particular  reference  to  the  foundmg  of  them  on 
geographical  discriminations.  Let  me  now  take  a  more  com- 
prehensive view,  and  warn  you,  in  the  most  solemn  manner, 
against  the  baneful  effects  of  the  spirit  of  party  generally. 

This  spirit,  unfortunately,  is  inseparable  from  our  nature, 
having  its  root  in  the  strongest  passions  of  the  human  muid. 
It  exists,  under  different  shapes,  in  all  governments,  more  or 
less  stifled,  controlled,  or  repressed  ;  but  in  those  of  the 
popular  form,  it  is  seen  in  its  greatest  rankness,  and  is  truly 
their  worst  enemy. 

The  alternate  domination  of  one  faction  over  another, 
sharpened  by  the  sph'it  of  revenge,  natural  to  party  dissen- 
sions, which  in  different  ages  and  countries  hal^J&petrated 
the  most  horrid  enormities,  is  itself  a  frightful  despotism. 
But  this  leads  at  length  to  a  more  formal  and  permanent 
despotism.  The  disorders  and  miseries  which  result,  gradu- 
ally incline  the  miiids  of  men  to  seek  security  and  repose  in 
the  absolute  power  of  an  mdividual ;  and  sooner  or  later,  the 
chief  of  some  prevailing  faction,  more  able  or  more  fortunate 
than  his  competitors,  turns  this  disposition  to  the  purposes  of 
his  own  elevation,  or  the  ruins  of  public  liberty. 

Without  looking  forward  to  an  extremity  of  this  kmd 
(which  nevertheless  ought  not  to  be  entirely  out  of  sight),  the 
common  and  continual  mischi'^fs  of  the  spirity  of  party  are 


25 

sufficient  to  make  it  the  interest  and  duty  of  a  wise  people  to 
discourage  and  restrain  it. 

It  serves  always  to  distract  the  public  councils,  and  enfee))le 
tlie  public  administration.  It  agitates  the  community  with 
ill-founded  jealousies  and  false  alarms  ;  kindles  the  animosity 
of  one  part  against  another  ;  foments  occasionally  riot  and 
insurrection.  It  opens  the  door  to  foreign  influence  and  cor- 
ruption, which  find  a  facilitated  access  to  the  government 
itself,  through  the  channels  of  party  passions.  Thus  the 
policy  and  the  will  of  one  country  are  subjected  to  the  pohcy 
and  will  of  another. 

There  is  an  opinion  that  parties  in  free  countries  are  useful 
checks  upon  the  admmistration  of  the  government,  and  serve 
to  keep  alive  the  spirit  of  liberty.  This,  within  certain  iunits, 
is  probably  true  ;  and  in  governments  of  a  monarchical  cast, 
patriotism  may  look  with  indulgence,  if  not  witli  favor,  upon 
the  spirit  of  party.  But  in  those  of  the  popular  character,  in 
governments  purely  elective,  it  is  a  spirit  not  to  be  encouraged. 
From  their  natural  tendency,  it  is  certain  there  mil  always  be 
enough  of  that  spirit  for  every  salutary  puipose.  And  there 
being  constant  danger  of  excess,  the  effort  ought  to  be,  by 
force  of  pubhc  opinion,  to  mitigate  and  assuage  it.  A  fire 
not  to  be  quenched,  it  demands  an  uniform  vigilance  to  pre- 
vent its  burning  into  a  flame,  lest,  instead  of  warming,  it 
should  consume. 

It  is  important,  likewise,  that  the  habits  of  thmking,  in  a 
free  country,  should  inspire  caution  in  those  intrusted  with  its 
administration,  to  confine  tliemselves  within  their  respective 


26  Washington's    farewell    address. 

constitutional  spheres,  avoiding  in  the  exercise  of  the  powere 
of  one  department  to  encroach  upon  another.  Tlie  spirit  of 
encroachment  tends  to  consoUdate  the  powers  of  all  the 
departments  into  one,  and  thus  to  create,  whatever  the  form 
of  government,  a  real  despotism.  A  just  estimate  of  that 
love  of  power,  and  proneness  to  abuse  it,  which  predominates 
iu  the  human  heart,  is  sufficient  to  satisfy  us  of  the  truth  of 
tills  position.  The  necessity  of  reciprocal  checks  in  the  exer- 
cise of  political  power,  by  dividing  and  distributing  it  into 
different  depositories,  and  constituting  each  the  guardian  of 
the  public  weal  against  invasions  by  the  others,  has  been 
evinced  by  experiments,  ancient  and  modern  ;  some  of  them 
in  our  country,  and  under  our  own  eyes.  To  preserve  them 
must  be  as  necessary  as  to  institute  them.  If,  in  the  opinion 
of  the  people,  the  distribution  or  modification  of  the  constitu- 
t^'onal  powers  be  in  any  particular  wrong,  let  it  be  corrected 
by  an  amendment  in  the  way  wliich  the  Constitution  designates. 
But  let  there  be  no  change  by  usurpation  ;  for  though  tliis, 
in  one  instance,  may  be  the  instrument  of  good,  it  is  the  cus- 
tomary weapon  by  which  free  governments  are  destroyed. 
The  precedent  must  always  greatly  overbalance  in  permanent 
evil  any  partial  or  transiert  benefit  which  the  use  can  at  any 
tune  yield. 

Of  all  the  dispositions  and  habits  which  lead  to  political 
prosperity,  religion  and  morality  are  indispensable  supports. 
In  vain  would  that  man  claim  the  tribute  of  patriotism,  who 
should  labor  to  subvert  those  great  pillars  of  human  happiness 
— those  firmest  props  of    the  duties  of  men  and  citizens. 


Washington's    farewell    address.  27 

The  mere  politician,  equally  with  the  pious  man,  ought  to 
respect  and  cherish  them.  A  volume  could  not  trace  all 
their  connections  with  private  and  public  felicity.  Let  it 
simply  be  asked,  where  is  the  security  for  property,  for  repu- 
tation, for  life,  if  the  sense  of  religious  obligation  desert  the 
oaths  which  are  the  instruments  of  investigation  in  com'ts  of 
iustice?  And  let  us  with  caution  indulge  the  supposition 
that  morality  can  be  obtained  witliout  religion.  Whatever 
may  be  conceded  to  the  mfluence  of  refined  education  on 
minds  of  peculiar  structure,  reason  and  experience  both  forbid 
us  to  expect  that  national  morahty  can  prevail  in  exclusion 
of  religious  principles. 

It  is  substantially  true  that  virtue  or  morality  is  a  neces- 
sary spring  of  popular  government.  The  rule  indeed  extends 
with  more  or  less  force  to  every  species  of  free  government. 
Who  that  is  a  sincere  friend  to  it  can  look  with  indifference 
upon  attempts  to  shake  the  foundation  of  the  fabric  ? 

Promote  then,  as  an  object  of  primary  uuportance,  institu- 
tions for  the  general  diffusion  of  knowledge.  In  proportion 
as  the  structure  of  the  government  gives  force  to  public 
opinion,  it  is  essential  that  public  opinion  should  be  enlight- 
ened. 

As  a  veiy  important  source  of  strength  and  security,  che- 
rish public  credit.  One  method  of  preserving  it  is  to  use  it 
as  sparmgly  as  possible,  avoiding  occasions  of  expense  by 
cultivating  peace  ;  but  remembering  also,  that  tunely  dis- 
bursements to  prepare  for  danger,  frequently  prevent  much 
greater  disbursements  to  repel  it ;  avoidmg  likewise  the  accu- 


28  Washington's    farewell    address. 

mnlatiou  of  debt,  not  only  by  sliunning  occasions  of  expense, 
but  by  vigorous  exertions  in  time  of  peace,  to  discbarge  the 
debts  wLicli  unavoidable  wars  may  have  occasioned,  not 
ungenerously  throwing  upon  posterity  the  burden  which  we 
ourselves  ought  to  bear.  The  execution  of  these  maxims 
belongs  to  your  representatives;  but  it  is  necessary  that 
pubhc  opinion  should  co-operate.  To  facilitate  to  them  the 
performance  of  their  duty,  it  is  essential  that  you  should  prac- 
tically bear  in  mind,  that  towards  the  payment  of  debts 
there  must  be  revenue  ;  that  to  have  revenue  there  must  be 
taxes  ;  that  no  taxes  can  be  devised  which  are  not  more  or 
less  inconvenient  and  unpleasant ;  that  the  intrmsic  embar- 
rassment, inseparable  from  the  selection  of  the  proper  objects 
(which  is  always  a  choice  of  difficulties),  ought  to  be  a 
decisive  motive  for  a  candid  construction  of  the  conduct  of 
the  government  in  making  it,  and  for  a  spirit  of  acquiescence 
in  the  measures  for  obtaining  revenue  which  the  pubhc 
exigencies  may  at  any  time  dictate. 

Observe  good  faith  and  justice  towards  all  nations ;  cul- 
tivate peace  and  harmony  with  all :  religion  and  morahty 
enjoin  this  conduct ;  and  can  it  be  that  good  policy  does  not 
equally  enjoin  it  ?  It  will  be  worthy  of  a  free,  enlightened, 
and,  at  no  distant  period,  a  great  nation,  to  give  to  mankind 
the  magnanimous  and  too  novel  example  of  a  people  always 
guided  by  an  exalted  justice  and  benevolence.  Who  can 
doubt  that,  in  the  course  of  time  and  things,  the  fruits  of 
such  a  plan  would  richly  repay  any  temporary  advantages 
which  might  be  lost  by  a  steady  adherence  to  it  ?     Can  it 


Washington's    farevv'ell    address.  39 

be,  tliat  Providence  has  not  connected  the  permanent  fehcity 
of  a  nation  with  its  virtue?  The  experiment,  at  least,  is 
recommended  by  every  sentiment  which  ennobles  human 
natui-e.     Alas  !  is  it  rendered  impossible  by  its  vices  ? 

In  the  execution  of  such  a  plan,  nothing  is  more  essential 
than  that  permanent  inveterate  antipathies  against  particular 
nations,  and  passionate  attachments  for  others,  should  be 
excluded  ;  and  that,  in  place  of  them,  just  and  amicable  feel- 
ings towards  all  should  be  cultivated.  The  nation  which 
indulges  towards  another  an  habitual  hatred,  or  an  habitual 
fondness,  is  in  some  degree  a  slave.  It  is  a  slave  to  its  ani- 
mosity or  to  its  affection,  either  of  which  is  sufficient  to  lead 
it  astray  from  its  duty  and  its  interest.  Antipathy  in  one 
nation  against  anotlier,  disposes  each  more  readily  to  offer 
insult  and  uijury,  to  lay  hold  of  slight  causes  of  umbrage,  and 
to  be  haughty  and  intractable,  when  accidental  or  trifling 
occasions  of  dispute  occur. 

Hence,  frequent  collisions,  obstinate,  envenomed,  and 
bloody  contests.  The  nation,  prompted  by  ill-will  and  resent- 
ment, sometimes  impels  to  war  the  government,  contrary  to 
the  best  calculations  of  policy.  The  government  sometimes 
participates  in  the  national  propensity,  and  adopts  through 
passion  what  reason  would  reject ;  at  other  times,  it  makes 
the  animosity  of  the  nation  subservient  to  projects  of  hostihty, 
instigated  by  pride,  ambition,  and  other  sinister  and  perni- 
cious motives.  The  peace  often,  sometimes  perhaps  the 
liberty  of  nations,  has  been  the  victmi. 

So,  likewise,  a  passionate  attachment  of  one  nation  for 


30  Washington's    farewell    address. 

another,  produces  a  variety  of  evils.  Sympathy  for  the 
favorite  nation,  facihtating  the  illusion  of  an  imaghiar;^  com- 
mon interest  in  cases  where  no  real  common  interest  exists, 
and  infusing  into  one  the  enmities  of  the  other,  betrays  the 
former  into  a  participation  in  the  quan'els  and  wars  of  the 
latter,  without  adequate  inducements  or  justification.  ]t 
leads  also  to  concessions  to  the  favorite  nation,  of  privileges 
denied  to  others,  which  are  apt  doubly  to  injure  the  nation 
making  the  concessions,  by  unnecessarily  partmg  with  w^hat 
ought  to  have  been  retained ;  and  by  exciting  jealousy,  ill- 
will,  and  a  disposition  to  retaliate,  in  the  parties  from  w^hom 
equal  privileges  are  withheld ;  and  it  gives  to  ambitious, 
corrupted,  or  deluded  citizens  (who  devote  themselves  to  the 
favorite  nation)  facility  to  iDctray.  or  sacrifice  the  mterests 
of  their  own  country,  without  odium,  sometimes  even  with 
popularity :  gilding  with  the  appearance  of  a  virtuous  sense 
of  obligation,  a  commendable  deference  of  public  opmion,  or 
a  laudable  zeal  for  pubhc  good,  the  base  or  foolish  compli- 
ances of  ambition,  corruption,  or  infatuation. 

As  avenues  to  foreign  influence  in  innumerable  ways,  such 
attachments  are  particularly  alarming  to  the  truly  enlightened 
and  independent  patriot.  How  many  opportunities  do  they 
afford  to  tamper  with  domestic  factions,  to  practise  the  arts 
of  seduction,  to  mislead  public  opinion,  to  influence  or  awe 
the  public  councils !  Such  an  attachment  of  a  small  or 
weak  towards  a  great  and  powerful  nation,  dooms  the  foiiner 
to  be  the  satellite  of  the  latter. 

Against  the  insidious  wiles  of  foreign  influence  (I  conjure 


Washington's    farewell    address.  31 

you  to  believe  me,  fellow-citizens)  the  jealousy  of  a  free  peo- 
ple ought  to  be  constantly  awake  ;  since  history  and  experi- 
ence prove  that  foreign  Influence  is  one  of  the  most  baneful 
foes  of  repubhcan  government.  But  that  jealousy  to  be 
useful  must  be  impartial,  else  it  becomes  the  instrument  of 
the  very  influence  to  be  avoided,  instead  of  a  defence  against 
it.  Excessive  partiality  for  one  foreign  nation,  and  excessive 
dislike  of  another,  cause  those  whom  they  actuate  to  see  dan- 
ger only  on  one  side,  and  serve  to  veil  and  even  second  the 
arts  of  influence  on  the  other.  Real  patriots,  who  may  resist 
the  intrigues  of  the  favorite,  are  liable  to  become  suspected 
and  odious ;  while  its  tools  and  dupes  usurp  the  applause 
and  confidence  of  the  people,  to  surrender  their  interests. 

The  great  rule  of  conduct  for  us,  in  regard  to  foreign 
nations,  is,  in  extending  om'  commercial  relations,  to  have  with 
them  as  little  political  connection  as  possible.  So  far  as  we 
have  already  formed  engagements,  let  them  be  fulfilled  v>^ith 
perfect  good  faith.     Here  let  us  stoj). 

Europe  has  a  set  of  primary  interests,  which  to  us  have 
none,  or  a  very  remote,  relation.  Hence  she  must  be  engaged 
in  frequent  controversies,  the  causes  of  which  are  essentially 
foreign  to  our  concerns.  Hence,  therefore,  it  must  be  unwise 
in  us  to  imphcate  ourselves,  by  artificial  ties,  in  the  ordinary 
vicissitudes  of  her  politics,  or  the  ordmary  combinations  and 
colMsions  of  her  friendships  or  enmities. 

Our  detached  and  distant  situation  invites  and  enal)les  us 
to  pm'sue  a  different  course.  If  we  remain  one  people,  under 
an  efficient  government,  the  period  is  not  far  off,  wiien  we 


6:i  WASIIIXGION'S      VAREWELL      ADDRESS. 

may  defy  material  injury  from  external  annoyances :  when  we 
may  take  such  an  attitude  as  will  cause  the  neutrahty,  we 
may  at  any  time  resolve  upon,  to  be  scrupulously  respected  ; 
when  belligerent  nations  under  the  impossibiUty  of  making 
acquisitions  upon  us,  will  not  lightly  hazard  the  giving  us 
})rovocation  ;  when  we  may  choose  peace  or  war,  as  our 
interest,  guided  by  justice,  shall  counsel. 

Why  forego  the  advantages  of  so  peculiar  a  situation  ? 
Why  quit  our  own  to  stand  upon  foreign  ground  ?  Why,  by 
interweaving  our  destmy  with  that  of  any  part  of  Europe, 
entangle  our  prosperity  in  the  toils  of  European  ambition, 
rivalship,  interest,  humor  or  caprice  ? 

It  is  our  true  policy  to  steer  clear  of  permanent  alliances 
with  any  portion  of  tlie  foreign  world;  so  far,  I  mean,  as  we 
are  now  at  liberty  to  do  it;  for  let  me  not  be  understood  as 
capable  of  patronizing  mfidelity  to  existing  engagements.  I 
hold  the  maxim  no  less  applicable  to  public  than  to  private 
affairs,  that  honesty  is  always  the  best  policy.  I  repeat  it, 
therefore,  let  those  engagements  be  observed  in  their  genuine 
sense.  But  in  my  opinion,  it  is  unnecessary  and  would  be 
unwise  to  extend  them. 

Taking  care  always  to  keep  ourselves,  by  suitable  estabhsh- 
ments,  in  a  respectable  defensive  posture,  we  may  safely  trust 
to  temporary  alliances  for  extraordinary  emergencies. 

Harmony,  and  a  liberal  intercourse  with  all  nations,  are 
recommended  by  policy,  humanity,  and  interest.  But  even 
our  cammercial  policy  should  hold  an  equal  and  impartial 
hand  :  neither  seeking  nor  granting  exclusive  favors  or  prefer- 


WASHINGTON'S     FAREWELL     ADDRESS.  33 

cnces  ;  conjiiltmg  the  natural  course  of  things  ;  diffusing  and 
diversifymg  by  gei  Die  means  the  streams  of  commerce,  but 
forcing  nothing ;  estabhshing,  with  powers  so  disposed,  in 
order  to  give  trade  a  stable  course,  to  define  the  rights  of 
our  merchants,  and  to  enable  the  government  to  sup^port 
them,  conventional  rules  of  intercourse,  the  ])est  that  present 
circumstances  and  mutual  opinion  will  permit,  but  temporary, 
and  liable  to  be  from  tune  to  time  abandoned  or  varied  as 
experience  and  circumstances  shall  dictate  ;  constantly  keep- 
ing in  view,  that  it  is  folly  in  one  nation  to  look  for  disinter- 
ested favors  from  another ;  tliat  it  must  pay  with  a  portion 
of  its  independence  for  whatever  it  may  accept  under  that 
character  ;  that  by  such  acceptance,  it  may  place  itself  in  the 
condition  of  having  given  equivalents  for  nominal  favors,  and 
yet  of  being  reproached  with  ingratitude  for  not  giving  more. 
There  can  be  no  greater  error  than  to  expect,  or  calculate 
upon  real  favors  from  nation  to  nation.  It  is  an  illusion 
which  experience  must  cure,  which  a  just  pride  ought  to 
discard. 

In  offering  to  you,  my  countrymen,  these  counsels  of  an  old 
and  affectionate  friend,  I  dare  not  hope  they  will  make  the 
strong  and  lasting  impression  I  could  wish  ;  that  they  will 
control  the  usual  current  of  the  passions,  or  prevent  our 
nation  from  running  the  course  which  has  hitherto  marked 
the  destiny  of  nations  :  but  if  I  may  even  flatter  myself,  that 
they  may  be  productive  of  some  partial  l^cnefit,  some  occa- 
sional good  ;  that  they  may  now  and  then  recur  to  moderate 
the  fury  of  party  -spu'it,  to  warn  against  the  raisciiiefs  of 

2* 


34  WASHING  TON '3      FARHWRLL      ADDRESS. 

foreign  intrigue ;  to  guard  against  the  impostures  of  pre- 
tended patriotism  ;  this  hope  will  be  a  full  recompense  for  the 
solicitude  of  your  welfare,  by  which  they  have  been  dictated. 

How  far,  in  the  discharge  of  my  official  duties,  I  have  been 
guided  by  the  principles  that  have  been  delineated,  the  public 
records  and  other  evidences  of  my  conduct  must  witness  to 
you  and  to  the  world.  To  myself,  the  assurance  of  my  own 
conscience  is,  that  I  have  at  least  believed  myself  to  be  guided 
by  them. 

In  relation  to  the  still  subsisting  war  in  Europe,  my  pro- 
clamation of  the  22d  of  April,  1^93,  is  the  index  to  my  plan. 
Sanctioned  by  your  approving  voice,  and  by  that  of  your 
representatives  in  both  houses  of  Congress,  the  spu-it  of  that 
measure  has  continually  governed  me,  uninfluenced  by  any 
attempts  to  deter  or  divert  me  fi'om  it. 

After  deliberate  examination,  with  the  aid  of  the  best 
lights  I  could  obtain,  I  was  well  satisfied  that  our  country, 
under  all  the  circumstances  of  the  case,  had  a  right  to  take, 
and  was  l^ound  in  duty  and  interest  to  take,  a  neutral  posi- 
tion. Having  taken  it,  I  determined,  as  far  as  should  depend 
upon  me,  to  maintain  it  with  moderation,  perseverance,  and 
firmness. 

The  considerations  which  respect  the  right  to  hold  this 
conduct,  it  is  not  necessary  on  this  occasion  to  detail.  I  will 
only  observe,  that  according  to  my  understanding  of  the 
matter,  that  right,  so  far  from  being  denied  by  any  of  the 
belligerent  powers,  has  bee :  virtually  admitted  by  all. 


The  duty  of  holding  a  neutral  conduct  may  be  inferred, 
without  anything  more,  from  the  obhgation  which  justice  and 
humanity  impose  on  every  nation,  in  cases  m  which  it  is  free 
to  act,  to  maintain  inviolate  the  relations  of  peace  and  amity 
towards  other  nations. 

The  inducements  of  mterest  for  observing  that  conduct  will 
best  be  referred  to  your  own  reflections  and  experience. 
With  me  a  predominant  motive  has  been  to  endeavor  to  gain 
time  to  our  country  to  settle  and  mature  its  yet  recent  insti- 
tutions, and  to  progress,  without  interruption,  to  that  degree 
of  strength  and  consistency  which  is  necessary  to  give  it, 
humanly  speaking,  the  command  of  its  own  fortunes. 

Though,  in  reviewing  the  mcidents  of  my  admuiistration,  I 
am  unconscious  of  intentional  error,  I  am  nevertheless  too 
sensible  of  my  defects  not  to  think  it  probable  that  I  may 
have  committed  many  errors.  Whatever  they  may  be,  I 
fervently  beseech  the  Almighty  to  avert  or  mitigate  the  evils 
to  which  they  may  tend.  I  shall  also  carry  with  me  the 
hope  that  my  country  will  never  cease  to  view  them  with 
indulgence ;  and  that  after  forty-five  years  of  my  life  dedi- 
cated to  its  service,  with  an  upright  zeal,  the  feults  of  incom- 
petent abilities  will  be  consigned  to  oblivion,  as  myself  must 
soon  be  to  the  mansions  of  rest. 

Relying  on  its  kindness  in  this  as  in  other  things,  and  actu- 
ated by  that  fervent  love  towards  it  which  is  so  natm'al 
to  a  man  who  views  it  in  the  native  soil  of  himself  and  his 
progenitors  for  several  generations ;  I  anticipate  with  pleas- 


36  Washington's    farewell    address. 

ing  expectation  that  retreat,  in  which  I  promise  myself  to 
realize,  without  alloy,  the  sweet  enjoyment  of  partaking,  in 
the  midst  of  my  fellow-ci'tizens,  the  benign  influences  of  good 
laws  under  a  free  government — the  ever-favorite  object  of 
my  heart,  and  the  happy  reward,  as  I  trust,  of  our  mutual 
cares,  labors,  and  dangers. 


THE     AMERICAN   FLAG.  37 


THE    AMERICAN    FLAG. 

BY  J.  B.  DRAKE. 

When  Freedom,  from  her  mountain  height, 
Unfurled  her  standard  to  the  air, 

She  tore  the  azure  robe  of  night, 
And  set  the  stars  of  glory  there. 

She  mingled  with  its  gorgeous  dyes, 

The  milky  baldrick  of  the  skies, 

And  striped  its  pure,  celestial  white, 

With  streakings  of  the  morning  hght ; 

Then,  from  his  mansion  in  the  smi, 

She  called  her  eagle-bearer  down, 

And  gave  into  his  mighty  hand 

The  symbol  of  her  chosen  land. 

Majestic  monarch  of  the  cloud  I 
Who  rear'st  aloft  thy  eagle  form, 

To  hear  the  tempest  trumping  loud. 

And  see  the  lightning-lances  driven. 
When  strides  the  warrior  of  the  storm. 

And  rolls  the  thunder-drum  of  heaven  ; 

Child  of  the  sun !  to  thee  'tis  given 
To  guard  the  banner  of  l^e  free. 


38  THE      AMERICAN      FLAG. 

To  hover  in  the  sulphur  smoke, 
To  ward  away  the  battle-stroke, 
And  l^id  its  blendings  shine  afar, 
Like  rainbows  in  the  cloud  of  war, 
The  harbinger  of  victory. 

Flag  of  the  brave  !  thy  folds  shall  fly 
The  sign  of  hope  and  triumph  high. 
When  speaks  the  signal-trumpet  tone, 
And  the  long  hue  comes  gleaming  on, 
Ere  yet  the  life-blood,  warm  and  wet, 
Has  dimmed  the  glistening  bayonet, 
Each  soldier's  eye  shall  brightly  turn 
To  where  thy  meteor  glories  burn, 
And  as  his  springing  steps  advance. 
Catch  war  and  vengeance  from  the  glance ; 
And  when  the  cannon's  mouthings  loud, 
Heave,  in  wild  \\Teaths,  the  battle  shroud, 
And  gory  sabres  rise  and  fall. 
Like  shoots  of  flame  on  midnight's  pall, 
There,  shall  thy  victor  glances  glow, 
And  cowering  foes  shall  sink  below 
Each  gallant  arm,  tliat  strikes  beneath 
That  a^^^ul  messenger  of  death. 

Flag  of  the  seas !  on  ocean's  wave 
Thy  stars  shall  glitter  o'er  the  brave. 
When  death,  careering  on  the  gale. 
Sweeps  darkly  round  the  belUed  sail, 


THE      AMERICAN      FLAG.  39 


And  frighted  waves  rush  wildly  back, 
Before  the  broadside's  reeling  rack. 
The  dying  wanderer  of  the  sea 
Shall  look  at  once  to  heaven  and  thee, 
And  smile,  to  see  thy  splendors  fly 
In  triumph  o'er  his  closing  eye. 

Flag  of  the  free  heart's  only  home  ! 

By  angel  hands  to  valor  given, 
Thy  stars  have  ht  the  welkin  dome. 

And  all  thy  hues  were  bom  in  heaven. 
Forever  float  that  standard  sheet ! 

Where  breathes  the  foe  but  falls  before  us, 
With  freedom's  soil  beneath  oiu-  feet, 

And  Freedom's  banner  waving  o'er  us  ! 


THE    BIBLE. 

BY      R.     W.     EMERSON. 

Out  from  the  heart  of  Nature  rolled 
The  burthens  of  the  Bible  old. 
The  Litanies  of  Nations  came. 
Like  the  volcano's  tongue  of  flame. 
Up  from  the  burning  core  below. 
The  Canticles  of  Love  and  Woe 


40  AMERICA      FOR     AMERICANS. 


AMERICA  FOR  AMERICANS. 

FEOM  THE  >'EW  YORK  MRKOR. 

Well,  why  not  ?  Is  there  another  country  under  the  sun, 
that  does  not  belong  to  irts  own,  native-born  people?  Is 
there  another  country  where  the  ahen  by  birth,  and  often  by 
openly  boasted  sympathy,  is  permitted  to  fill  the  most  respon- 
sible offices,  and  preside  over  the  most  sacred  trusts  of  the 
land  ?  Is  there  another  country  that  would  place  its  secret 
archives  and  its  diplomacy  with  foreign  states,  in  other  than 
native  hands — with  tried  and  trusty  native  hearts  to  back 
them  ?  Is  there  another  country  that  would  even  permit  the 
foreigner  to  become  a  citizen,  shielded  by  its  laws  and  its 
flag,  on  terms  such  as  we  exact,  leavmg  the  political  franchise 
out  of  sight  ?  More  than  all  else,  is  there  a  country,  other 
than  ours,  that  would  acknowledge  as  a  citizen,  a  patriot,  a 
repubhcan,  or  a  safe  man,  one  who  stood  boimd  by  a  rehgious 
oath  or  obligation,  in  pohtical  conflict  with,  and  which  he 
deemed  temporarily  higher  than,  the  Constitution  and  Civil 
Government  of  that  country — to  which  he  also  professes  to 
swear  fealty? 

America  for  the  Americans,  we  say.  And  why  not  ? 
Didn't  they  plant  it,  and  battle  for  it  through  bloody  revolu- 
tion— and  haven't  they  developed  it,  as  only  Americans  could, 
into  a  nation  of  a  century,  and  yet  mightier  tlian  the  oldest 


AMERICA      FOR      AMERICANS.  41 

empire  on  earth  ?  Why  shouldn't  they  shape  and  rule  the 
destmies  of  their  own  land — the  land  of  their  bhth,  their 
love,  their  altars,  and  their  graves  ;  the  land  red  and  rich 
with  the  blood  and  ashes,  and  hallowed  by  the  memories  of 
tlieir  fathers  ?  Why  not  rule  then*  own,  particularly  when 
tlic  ahen  betrays  the  trust  that  should  never  have  been  given 
hiin,  and  the  liberties  of  the  land  are  thereby  imperilled  ? 

Lacks  the  American  numbers,  that  he  may  not  rule  by  the 
right  of  majority,  to  which  is  constitutionally  given  the  poli- 
tical sovereignty  of  this  laud  ?  Did  he  not,  at  the  last  num- 
bermg  of  the  people,  count  seventeen  and  a  half  millions, 
native  to  the  soil,  against  less  than  two  and  a  half  millions 
of  actually  foreign  born,  and  those  born  of  foreigners  coming 
among  us  for  the  last  three  quarters  of  a  century  ?  Has  he 
not  tried  the  mixed  rule,  with  a  tolerance  unexampled,  until 
it  has  plagued  him  worse  than  the  hce  and  locust  plagued  the 
Egyptian  ?  Has  he  not  shared  the  trust  of  office  and  council, 
until  foreign-born  pauperism,  vice  and  crime,  stain  the  whole 
land — until  a  sheltered  alien  fraction  have  become  rampant 
in  their  ingratitude  and  insolence  ?  Has  he  not  suffered  bur- 
dens of  tax,  and  reproach,  and  shame,  by  his  ill-bestowed 
division  of  political  power  ? 

America  for  the  Americans  !  That  is  the  watchword  that 
should  ring  through  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  land,  from 
the  hps  of  the  whole  people.  America  for  the  Americans — • 
to  shape  and  to  govern  ;  to  make  great,  and  to  keep  great, 
strong  and  free,  from  home  foes  and  foreign  demagogues  and 
hierarchs.     In  the  hour  of  Revolutionary  peril,  Washmgtoa 


42  AMERICA      FOR      AMERICANS. 

said,  "  Put  none  but  Americans  on  guard  to-night "  At  a 
later  time,  Jefferson  wished  ''  an  ocean  of  fire  rolled  between 
the  Old  World  and  the  New."  To  their  cliildren,  the  Ame- 
rican people,  the  fathers  and  builders  of  the  Kepublic, 
bequeathed  it,  "Eternal  vigilance  is  the  jmce  of  liberty  !" — 
let  the  American  be  vigilant  that  the  alien  seize  not  his  birth- 
right. 

America  for  the  Americans  !  Shelter  and  welcome  let 
them  give  to  the  emigrant  and  the  exile,  and  make  them 
citizens  in  so  far  as  civil  privileges  are  concerned.  But  let 
it  be  looked  to  that  paupers  and  criminals  are  no  longer 
shipped  on  us  by  foreign  states.  Let  it  be  looked  to  that 
foreign  nationalities  in  our  midst  are  rooted  out  ;  that  foreign 
regiments  and  battalions  are  disarmed ;  that  the  public 
laws  and  schools  of  the  country  are  printed  and  taught  in  the 
language  of  the  land  ;  that  no  more  charters  for  foreign 
titled  or  foreign  charactered  associations — benevolent,  social 
or  other — are  granted  by  our  Legislatm-es  ;  that  all  National 
and  State  support  given  to  Education,  have  not  the  shadow 
of  sectarianism  about  it.  There  is  work  for  Americans  to 
do.  They  have  slept  on  guard — if,  indeed,  they  have  been  on 
guard — and  the  enemy  have  grown  strong  and  riotous  in 
their  midst. 

America  for  the  Americans !  We  have  had  enough  of 
"  Young  Irelands,"  "  Young  Germauys,"  and  "  Young  Italys." 
We  have  had  enough  of  insolent  alien  threat  to  suppress  our 
"Puritan  Sabbath,"  and  amend  our  Constitution.  We  have 
been  a  patient  camel,  and  borne  foreign  bm'den  even  to  the 


AMERICA      FOR      AMERICANS.  43 

back-breaking  pound.  But  the  time  is  come  to  right  the 
\^Tong  ;  the  occasion  is  ripe  for  reform  in  whatever  we  have 
failed.  The  politico-religious  foe  is  fully  discovered — ^he  must 
be  squarely  met,  and  put  down.  We  want  m  this  free  land 
none  of  this  political  dictation.  We  want  none  of  his  religious 
mummeries — let  him  keep  his  "holy  shirt  of  Treves,"  his 
"winkmg  (pictorial)  damsel  of  Rimini,"  Ms  ''toe-nails  of  the 
Apostle  Peter,"  and  his  travail  about  the  "  Immaculacy  of  the 
Virgin  Mary,"  in  those  lands  that  have  been  desolated  with 
persecution,  and  repeopled  with  serfs  and  lazzaroni  by  the 
hierarchy  to  which  he  owes  supreme  rehgious  and  temporal 
obedience.  Our  feehng  is  earnest,  not  bitter.  The  matters 
of  which  we  have  wi'itten  are  great  and  grave  ones,  and  we 
shall  not  be  silent  until  we  have  aided  in  wholly  securing 
Amarica  for  the  Americans ! 


44  THE      MOTHKR      OF      WASHINGTON. 


THE  MOTHEll  OF  WASHIXGTO.^ 

BY  MK3.   L.  II.   SIGOURXET. 

Long  liasi  thou  slept  uuuoted.     Nature  stole 
In  her  soft  miuistry,  around  thy  bed, 
And  spread  her  vernal  coverings,  violet-gemm'd, 
And  pearl'd  vrith  dews.     She  bade  bright  Summer  bring 
Gifts  of  frankincense,  with  sweet  song  of  bii'ds. 
And  Autumn  cast  his  yellow  coronet 
Down  at  thy  feet,  and  stormy  Winter  speak 
Hoarsely  of  man's  neglect.     But  now  we  come 
To  do  thee  homage.  Mother  of  om*  Chief, 
Fit  homage,  such  as  honoreth  him  who  pays  I 
i\Iethinks  we  see  thee,  as  m  olden  time, 
Simple  in  garb — ^majestic  and  serene — 
Unaw'd  by  "pomp  and  circumstance" — in  trutK 
Inflexible — and  with  Spartan  zeal 
Repressmg  vice,  and  making  folly  grave. 
T/mi  didst  not  deem  it  woman's  part  to  waste 
Life  in  inglorious  sloth,  to  sport  awhile 
Amid  the  flowers,  or  on  the  summer  wave,  ■ 

Then  fleet  like  the  ephemeron  away. 
Building  no  temple  in  her  children's  hearts. 
Save  to  the  vanity,  and  pride  of  life 
Which  she  had  worshipp'd. 


JHE      MOTHER      OF      WASHINGTON.  45 

Of  the  might  that  cloth'd 
**The  Pater  Patri«  " — of  the  deeds  that  won 
A  nation's  liberty,  and  earth's  applause, 
Making  Mount  Vernon's  tomb  a  Mecca  haunt-- 
For  patriot  and  for  sage  while  time  shall  last, 
What  jjart  was  thine,  what  thanks  to  thee  are  due, 
Who  mid  his  elements  of  being  wi-ought 
With  no  uncertam  aim — nursing  the  germs 
Of  godhke  virtue  in  his  infant  mmd, 
We  know  not,' — heaven  can  tell ! 

Rise,  noble  pile  1 
And  show  a  race  unborn,  who  rests  below — • 
And  say  to  mothers,  what  a  holy  charge 
Is  theirs — with  what  a  kingly  power  their  love 
Might  rule  the  fountains  of  the  new-born  mind — ■ 
Warn  them  to  wake  at  early  dawn,  and  sow 
Good  seed  before  the  world  doth  sow  its  tares, 
Nor  in  their  toil  decline — that  angel  bands 
May  put  the  sickle  in,  and  reap  for  God, 
And  gather  to  his  garner. 

Ye  who  stand 
With  thrilling  breast  and  kindlmg  cheek  this  morn, 
Viewing  the  tribute  that  Virginia  pays 
To  the  blest  Mother  of  her  glorious  Cliief ; 
Ye,  whose  last  thought  upon  your  nightly  couch 
Whose  first,  at  waking,  is  your  cradled  son, 


46  THE      TWExNTY-SECOXD      OF      D  £  C  E  M  B.E  R . 

What  though  no  dazzhng  hope  aspires  to  rear 

A  secoud  Washington,  or  leave  your  name 

Wrought  out  in  marble,  with  your  country's  tears 

Of  deathless  gratitude, — yet  may  ye  raise 

A  monmmnt  above  the  stars,  a  soul 

Led  by  your  teachmgs,  and  your  prayers,  to  God. 


THE  TWENTY-SECOIfD  OF  DECEMBER. 

BY  W.   C.  BRTAAT. 

Wild  was  the  day  ;  the  wintry  sea 

Moaned  sadly  on  IS'ew  England's  strand, 

When  first  the  thoughtful  and  the  free. 
Our  fathers,  trod  the  desert  land. 

They  little  thought  how  pure  a  hght. 

With  years  should  gather  roimd  that  day  ; 

How  love  should  keep  their  memories  ])right, 
How  wide  a  realm  their  sons  should  sway. 

Green  are  their  bays  ;  but  greener  still 

Shall  round  their  spreading  fame  be  wreathed, 

And  regions,  now  untrod,  shall  thrill 
With  reverence  when  then*  names  are  breathed. 

Till  where  the  sun,  with  softer  fires. 

Looks  on  the  vast  Pacific's  sleep, 
Tlie  children  of  the  pilgrun  sires 

This  hallowed  day  like  us  shall  keep. 


TWE      BIBLE      INSCHOOIS.  47 


THE   BIBLE  IN   SCHOOLS. 

BY  HON.   JOSEPH  W.  SAVAGE, 

Sir,  our  Common  Schools  are  places  wherein  the  children 
of  all  our  people  meet.  They  study  together,  they  associate 
together  upon  a  common  level.  They  come  to  understand 
and  know  each  other,  assimilate  in  morals,  m  tastes,  and  in 
habits.  A  sort  of  brotherhood  is  established,  fraternity  of 
feeling  promoted,  and  a  foundation  for  a  life  of  liberahty  and 
kindness  towards  each  other  is  laid.  The  importance  oi  this 
consideration  is  not,  I  fear  sufficiently  appreciated.  Its 
influence  is  measureless  in  gi\dng  practical  effect  to  that  spirit 
of  universal  toleration  which  breathes  through  all  our  institu- 
tions and  speaks  in  all  our  laws.  I  know  well,  that  our 
Common  Schools  have  been  denounced  as  "Godless''  and 
"infidel"  by  a  denomination  that  arrogates  to  itself  all  the 
wisdom,  all  the  truth,  and  all  the  piety  of  the  world.  I 
know  they  have  been  thus  denounced  because  they  do  not 
teach  a  blmd  and  unquestioning  obedience  to  the  priesthood, 
because  they  do  not  inculate  the  doctrines  of  Rome  as  a 
primary  element  of  Education.  I  should  hold  them  as  worse 
t'lan  useless  if  they  did  so,  because  I  am  myself  a  heretic 
a  wording  to  the  papal  creed.  But,  sir,  I  should  be  equally 
op])osed  to  the  introduction  of  ray  own  particular  faith  as  one 


48  THE      BIBLE      IN      S.IIOOLS. 

to  l)e  propagated  throng'h  our  Common  Schools  or  by  means 
of  the  Common  School  Fund,  Those  schools  are  not  the 
places  to  shape  the  particular  faith  of  the  pupils.  Faith  in 
the  Bible  itself  should  be  taught,  its  holy  insph'ation  as  the 
word  of  the  great  God  spoken  to  man  as  a  guide  to  salvation 
should  be  taught,  because  it  is  so  regarded  by  all  denomina- 
tions of  Christians,  Certam  great  fundamental  truths  of 
Christianity  should  be  inculcated,  for  they  are  acknowledged 
by  all ;  but  creeds  and  dogmas  should  be  left  to  home 
influence,  or  to  the  calm  study  of  the  Bilile  itself. 

Sir,  the  children  educated  by  these  funds  are  to  be  the 
future  sovereigns  of  the  country ;  they  are  to  wield  the  des- 
tiny, for  good  or  for  evil,  of  the  State.  What  kind  of  edu- 
cation should  they  have,  to  fit  them  for  the  exercise  of  this 
power  and  these  duties  ?  Xo  one,  I  presume,  will  deny  the 
proposition  that  it  should  be  intellectual,  historical  and  moral : 
upon  these  three  propositions  all  will  unite.  The  history 
taught  should  be  authentic  ;  it  should  be  the  truth  ;  it  should 
not  be  fashioned  and  shaped  to  meet  the  views  of  any  sect, 
nor  to  promote  or  screen  any  particular  denomination — ^nor 
should  it  be  aiTanged  with  a  view  to  prejudice  or  wipe  out 
any  stain  from  the  character  of  any  man  or  combination  of 
men,  or  from  any  institution  that  belongs  to  or  has  passed 
into  history. 

The  morality  taught  should  be  of  the  very  highest  and 
purest  character,  shaped  to  meet  the  views  of  no  sect  or 
denomination,  nor  fashioned  to  square  ^vith  the  consciences  of 
any  particular  sect.     The  State  educates  the  children  not  for 


THE      BIBLE      IX      SCHOOLS.  49 

the  children's  sake,  but  for  its  own,  and  hence  that  morality 
should  be  inculcated  which,  while  it  accords  with  the  revealed 
will  of  heaven,  will  make  them  good  citizens,  good  republic- 
ans, and  will  best  promote  the  interests  of  the  institutions 
under  which  they  live  and  for  which  they  are  to  be  responsi- 
ble hereafter.  We  have  heretofore  legislated  m  some  measm'e 
to  please  at  least  one  sect.  We  have  permitted  what  any 
other  nation  in  the  world  that  recognizes  the  Christian  reli- 
gion would  never  have  allowed.  We  have  suffered  the  Bible 
to  be  banished  from  many  of  our  State  schools,  have  shut  out 
from  the  childi'en  of  those  schools  the  very  book  which  ail 
denominations  of  Christians  make  the  fomidation  of  their 
faith,  and,  strange  as  it  may  seem,  out  of  tenderness  towards 
the  consciences  of  a  Christian  sect. 

Of  all  the  people  of  this  country,  one  denomination  alone 
objects  to  the  readmg  of  the  Bible  in  the  schools,  and  to 
please  that  sect  we  have  excluded  it ;  they  then  denounce 
om'  schools  as  Godless.  What  course  shall  we  pursue  ? 
Shall  we  deliver  the  schools  mto  their  hands,  allow  them  to 
dh'ect  the  education  of  the  State,  contrary  to  the  wishes  and 
the  consciences  of  all  the  others?  Shall  bigotry  triumph? 
No  !  What  course  then  shall  we  pursue  ?  There  is  but  one 
true  course,  and  that  should  never  have  been  deviated  from. 
Let  the  education  of  the  children  of  this  Christian  State  be 
carried  forward  without  regard  to  the  clamors  of  bigoted 
sectarianism  or  infidehty.  Return  the  Bible  to  every  school, 
and  let  our  children  from  it  alone,  without  note  or  comment, 
become  acquauited  with  their  relations  and  obligations  to  the 

8 


50  THE      BIBLE      IN      SCHOOLS. 

Creator.  The  word  of  (jod  is  not  the  only  book  that  has 
been  exchided.  We  first  excluded  the  New  England  Cate- 
cliism ;  this  was  yielded  as  soon  as  it  was  objected  to, 
because  it  was  sectarian,  and  inculcated  a  particular  creed. 
^Ve  then  excluded  all  books  in  which  there  was  any  religions 
discussion.  This  was  yielded  for  the  same  reason.  We  then 
excluded  all  books  that  spoke  harshly  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
creed.  Though  this  is  a  Protestant  country,  we  yielded 
that  too. 

In  this  was  shown  a  principle  of  liberality,  in  Protestant- 
ism, that  it  would  be  well  if  all  denominations  of  Christians 
would  copy,  and  let  our  noble  system  of  Common  School  edu- 
cation progress  in  peace.  But  we  have  done  more  than  this  : 
we  have  banished  from  some  of  our  schools,  some  of  the 
choicest  English  literature,  because  it  was  offensive  to  Roman 
Catholic  taste.  We  have  excluded  impartial  history  because 
it  spoke  of  the  despotism  of  the  Roman  Church.  We  have 
mutilated  books,  and  blotted  out  clearly  authenticated  facts, 
for  fear  of  ^offending  the  conscience  of  this  denomination,  o 
of  exciting  prejudice  against  the  career  of  that  church  ii 
times  long  past.  In  this  we  have  committed  a  grievous 
error. 

The  history  of  the  past  is  the  common  property  of  all  the 
present,  and  we  can  withhold  it  from  none  without  perpetrat- 
ing a  wrong  This  is  not  the  way  to  educate  those  who  are 
sovereigns. 

The  past  should  be  permitted  to  speak  to  them  in  the 
language  of  frankness  and  tnith,  and  to  utter  in  their  ear  ita 


THE      BIBLE    IN    SCHOOLS.  51 

voice  of  admonition.  The  pilot  of  State  should  be  well  ac- 
quainted with  the  rocks  and  shoals  upon  which  other  govern- 
ments have  been  wi'ecked.  Su",  when  sectarianism  demanded 
this,  when  it  went  further,  and  demanded  that  we  should 
sun'ender  the  Bible,  it  should  have  been  met  with  a  firm  and 
emphatic  denial.  Regard  for  the  tnith  of  liistory,  reverence 
for  the  Deity,  a  decent  respect  for  the  religion  and  faith  of 
the  country,  a  holy  regard  for  the  future  welfare  of  the  State, 
should  have  prevented  our  yielding  up  and  denying  the  Bible 
a  place  on  the  scholars'  desks,  and  in  the  teachers'  hands  of 
our  schools.  The  Bible,  sir,  is  not  a  sectarian  book ;  men 
base  sectarian  theories  upon  it,  and  pervert  it  to  their  own 
purposes.  This  is  not  the  fault  of  the  Bible,  and  it  should 
not  be  held  responsible  for  the  weakness  or  wickedness  of 
men.  The  Bible,  sh*,  is  the  foundation  of  the  Christian's 
faith.  It  is  the  corner  stone  upon  which  the  doctrines  of 
every  Christian  denomination  rests.  It  is  the  foundation 
upon  which  civilization  itself  and  rational  hberty  are  based. 
Sir,  it  is  more.  It  is  the  only  guide  that  man  has  to  lead 
hun  upward  to  God — without  it  human  wisdom  is  as  nothmg. 
Without  it  the  future  is  all  darkness,  and  the  present  all 
gloom.  It  is  the  only  ray  of  hght  glancing  from  the  throne 
of  Goi  that  illuminates  the  destmy  of  man  beyond  the 
grave. 


52  STAR-SPANGLED      BANNER 


STAR-SPAXGLED    BAN^^ER, 


BY   F.  S.   KET. 


Oh  !  say,  can  you  see,  by  the  da\NTi's  early  light, 

What  so  proudly  we  hail'd  at  the  twilight's  last  gleaming  ? 

Whose  broad  stripes  and  bright  stars,  through  the  perilous 

fight. 
O'er  the  ramparts  we  watch'd,  were  so  gallantly  streaming  ; 
And  the  rocket's  red  glare,  the  bombs  bursting  in  air, 
Gave  proof  through  the  night,  that  our  flag  was  still  there. 
Oh  !  say,  does  that  star-spangled  banner  yet  wave 
O'er  the  land  of  the  free  and  the  home  of  the  brave  ! 

On  the  shore  dimly  seen,  through  the  mists  of  the  deep, 
Where  the  foe's  haughty  host  in  dread  silence  reposes. 
What  is  that  which  the  breeze,  o'er  the  tow'ring  steep, 
As  it  fitfully  blows,  half  conceals,  half  discloses  ? 
Kow  it  catches  the  gleam  of  the  morning's  first  beam  ; 
Its  full  glory  reflected  now  shmes  on  the  stream. 
'Tis  the  star-spangled  banner,  oh  !  long  may  it  wave 
O'er  the  land  of  the  free,  and  the  home  of  the  brave. 

And  where  is  that  band  who  so  vauntingly  swore, 
Mid  the  havoc  of  war  and  the  battle's  confusion, 


STAR-SPA\GLED      B  A  xV  N  E  R  .  63 

A  home  and  a  country  they'd  leave  us  no  more  ? 

Their  blood  hath  wash'd  out  then*  foul  footsteps'  pollution 

ISTo  refuge  could  save  the  hireling  and  slave 

From  the  terror  of  flight,  or  the  gloom  of  the  grave  ; 

And  the  star-spangled  banner  in  triumph  doth  wave 

O'er  the  land  of  the  free  and  the  home  of  the  brave 

Oh  !  thus  be  it  ever,  when  freemen  shall  stand 
Between  their  lov'd  home,  and  the  war's  desolation  ; 
Blest  with  vict'ry  and  peace,  may  the  heaven-rescued  land, 
Praise  the  Power  that  hath  made  and  preserv'd  us  a  n««tior 
Then  conquer  we  must,  for  our  cause  it  is  just, 
And  this  be  om'  motto,  "In  God  is  our  trust :'' 
And  the  star-spangled  banner  in  triumph  shall  wave 
O'er  the  land  of  the  free  and  the  home  of  the  brave 


54  THE    "know    nothings, 


"THE  KNOW  NOTHINGS." 

BY   DR.   THOMAS   E.   BOXD. 

It  will  be  readily  admitted  that  all  secret  associations  are 
liable  to  be  abused  to  bad  purposes,  and  especially  political 
organizations,  wliose  proceedings  are  secret,  because  they  are 
not  restrained  by  the  wholesome  check  of  public  opinion ; 
and  hence  the  individual  members  are  not  so  essentially  con- 
trolled, by  regard  to  their  reputation,  as  they  would  l)e  if 
what  they  proposed  to  do  was  subjected  to  public  animad- 
version. "Know  Xothingism"  may,  therefore,  l)e  an  evil, 
or  it  may  become  one  of  great  magnitude  by  the  abuse  of 
power ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  it  may,  if  du'ected  by  right 
motives,  effect  great  good,  and  counteract  evils  of  the  grea^ 
est  magnitude  ;  and  evils,  too,  for  which  we  know  no  other 
remedy. 

If  we  are  rightly  informed,  the  association  has  been  got  up 
to  comteract  the  political  influence  of  Romanism,  by  resisting 
the  pohtical  elevation  of  foreigners.  It  does  not  propose  to 
exclude  from  office  or  authority,  legislative  or  executive, 
Ivomanists  as  such,  but  only  foreigners.  Yet,  as  the  great 
body  of  Romanists  in  this  country  are  emigrants  from 
Europe,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  the  exclusion  of  foreigners 
will    necessarily    affect  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  Dior-.i 


THF.      "KX0T7      NOTHINGS."  55 

than  other  churches ;  and  this,  so  far  from  being  a  pohtical 
evil,  may  be  sho^vn  to  be  necessary  to  the  conservation  and 
perpetuation  of  civil  and  rehgious  liberty.  And  hence,  it  may 
be  asserted,  with  great  propriety,  that  an  organizaiion  such 
as  the  "  Know  Nothings"  constitute,  is  essential  to  the  wel- 
fare of  our  country,  as  the  only  adequate  means  of  counter- 
acting Romanism — the  most  secret  and  the  most  formidable 
association  that  human  ingenuity  ever  devised,  and  which, 
from  its  very  nature,  is,  and  cannot  cease  to  be,  hostile  to  the 
principles  of  civil  and  religious  liberty. 

That  the  Koman  CathoHc  Chm'ch  is  a  secret  society, 
directed  by  its  hierarchy — absolutely  controlled  by  its  priest- 
hood to  a  degree  which  has  never  been  exercised  by  the 
leaders  of  any  pohtical  party  in  this  or  any  other  country — • 
is  evident  by  its  religious  creed,  and  its  practice  everywhere. 
The  confessional  is  a  secret  tribunal,  before  which  every  mem- 
ber of  the  Church  is  required  to  make  kno\sTi,  not  only  every 
immoral  action,  but  every  thought  and  purpose  of  the  heart, 
upon  pain  of  incmTuig  the  anathema  of  the  Church,  which  is 
equivalent  to  a  sentence  of  eternal  damnation.  The  secresy 
of  this  tribunal  is  not  only  admitted  by  the  Church,  but 
gloried  in.  Even  the  priest  dare  not  reveal  what  is  extracted 
from  the  penitent  under  the  seal  of  confession,  unless  he  bo 
authorized  to  divulge  it  by  Church  authority. 

This  will  not  be  denied,  we  presume ;  but  this  is  not  all. 
The  priest  is  thus  put  in  possession  of  secrets  which  enable 
him  to  hold  his  penitent  under  secret  obligation  which  lie  dares 
not  violate.     The  priest,  as  we  have  said,  is  bound  to  secresy, 


56  THE    "kxow    nothings." 

but  may  be  released  by  his  superiors  from  the  obhgation,  and 
always  will  be,  as  he  always  has  been  so  released,  when  the 
good  of  the  Church  requu'es  it.  The  penitent  must  have  been 
a  very  correct  man  in  all  his  relations,  if  his  confession  does 
not  4)lacc  him  absolutely  in  the  power  of  his  priest,  even  in 
regard  to  his  worldly  interests ;  but  in  regard  to  Ms  spiritual 
interests,  his  absolute  dependence  on  his  confessor  is  unques- 
tionable. He  has  been  taught  to  believe  that  priestly  abso- 
lution is  essential  to  his  salvation,  and  what  is  still  worse, 
that  the  validity  and  efficacy  of  this  absolution  depend  upon 
the  secret  intention  of  the  priest  vrho  administers,  or  pro- 
nounces it :  so  that  if  it  be  pronounced  with  all  formaUty,  and 
according  to  the  established  formula  of  the  church,  it  is 
wholly  unavaihng,  unless  the  priest  has  a  ^^  right  intention  ^^ 
in  the  exercise  of  his  function. 

The  penitent  is,  therefore,  wholly  in  the  power  of  the  priest ; 
for,  although  his  confessor  may  go  through  all  the  outward 
form  of  receiving  his  confession  and  giving  absolution,  yet  he 
must  be  lost — for  ever  lost — if  his  priest  has  not  l^een  so  con- 
ciliated as  to  exercise  a  right  intention  in  his  own  mind. 
This  is  the  doctrine  of  the  Church,  as  laid  down  by  the  so 
called  holy,  infallible  Council  of  Trent,  the  last  (wuimenical 
council  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church. 

'Now,  we  put  it  to  any  man  of  reason  and  common  sense  :  if 
you  believe  all  this ;  if  you  believe  the  priest  had  all  your 
etej[nal  interests  in  his  power — could  send  you  to  heaven  or 
hell,  even  while  he  administered  the  rites  of  the  Church  out- 
wardly, by  exercising  or  withholding  a  secret  "  right  inten- 


THE      '-KNOW      NOTHINGS  "  51 

tion"  in  the  administration  of  the  sacraments,  or  the  power 
of  absolution — ^if  you  believe  in  these  doctrines  of  the  Church 
of  Rome,  would  you  incur  the  displeasure  of  the  priest  for 
any  earthly  consideration  ?  But  if  not,  is  not  every  Koman 
Catholic  under  the  absolute  control  of  a  secret  society,  by 
considerations  not  only  of  a  temporal,  but  of  an  eternal 
weight  ? 

But  it  may  be  thought  that  no  sensible  man  can  believe  all 
this  !  Yet  if  a  man  does  not  believe  it  he  is  not  a  Koman 
Catholic  at  all ;  and  why  any  but  such  can  go  to  confession, 
in  a  country  where  no  legal  authority  or  political  advantages 
are  made  to  depend  upon  going  to  confession,  we  cannot 
divine.  In  Roman  Catholic  countries,  where  all  social  and 
political  advantages  are  made  to  depend  upon  being  in  the 
Church,  and  the  being  in  the  Chm'ch  is  made  to  depend  upon 
going  to  confession,  at  least  once  a  year,  we  can  easily  con- 
ceive how  an  Atheist  my  be  induced  to  conform  to  the  require- 
men.t,  as  he  beheves  in  no  future  judgment  or  accountabihty. 
But  why  even  an  Atheist  should  profess  to  be  a  Catholic,  and 
conform  to  the  requirements  of  the  confessional  in  this  coun- 
tiy,  we  cannot  imagine,  unless  it  he  from  a  desire  to  secure 
Catholic  votes  and  influence,  to  aid  his  political  aspirations. 

Having,  then,  among  us  a  very  large  secret  society,  gov- 
erned by  a  priesthood,  who  are  believed  by  the  members  of 
the  association  to  exercise  by  divine  right  the  power  to  fix 
and  determine  their  eternal  destiny,  and  this  priesthood  itself 
beuag  the  subjects  of  a  foreign  pontiff,  prince,  and  potentate, 
by  what  means  can  such  influence  be  controlled  but  by  a  com- 

3* 


58  THE      "k^TOW       •iorillNGR." 

bination  of  its  opponents  ?  and  ho  ,v  can  such  combination  be 
effected  but  by  association  and  organization?  Will  it  be 
answered  that  Romanism,  though  a  secret  organization,  is  not 
a  political  one,  and  therefore  does  not  require  to  be  opposed 
by  a  political  combination,  such  as  that  of  the  "Know 
Nothings  ? "  To  show  this,  it  will  be  necessary  to  prove  that 
the  secret  organization  of  Romanism  cannot  be  brought 
to  bear  upon  politics  and  political  institutions  ;  a  position 
which  contradicts  all  history  and  experience  ; — all  history,  for 
the  Pope  himself  has  been  an  active  agent  in  the  political 
quarrels,  intrigues,  and  wars  of  Europe  ;  and  in  every  coun- 
try where  Romanism  is  dominant,  it  sustains  despotism  in  the 
State  by  the  very  means  it  employs  to  perpetuate  it  in  the 
Church.  So  potent  is  this  ecclesiastical  influence,  that  every 
struggle  of  the  people  for  civil  liberty  has  been  prostrated  by 
it,  except  where  the  Reformation  overthrew  Romanism,  and 
gave  the  people  the  Bible.  Xapoleou  the  First  succumbed 
to  Popery,  and  established  it  as  the  religion  of  France,  with 
princely  revenues  and  endowments.  Louis  Philippe  assumed 
the  protectorate  of  the  Holy  Roman  Catholic  Church,  and 
compelled  the  helpless  Tahitians  to  admit  the  Jesuits  and 
French  brandy.  And  now  the  Emperor,  elected  by  the  peo- 
ple of  France,  keeps  a  body  of  French  troops  in  Rome  to 
protect  his  ''holiness"  from  the  indignution  of  an  oppressed, 
enslaved,  and  starving  population. 

Where,  we  ask,  has  Romanism  the  ascendancy  in  an}' 
country  in  which  it  has  not  crushed  out  every  feature  and 
semblance  of  civil  and  religious  liberty  ?     But  if  this  cannot 


THE    "know    nothings."  59 

be  shown,  is  it  not  idle  to  contend  that  this  systematic  hos- 
tihty  to  human  rights  is  not  inherent  in  the  system,  and  will, 
If  permitted,  do  the  very  same  thing  in  our  free  and  happy 
country  ?  Indeed,  the  purpose  has  been  openly  avowed  by 
the  papers  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  which  have  kindly 
forewarned  us  that  "  whenever  the  Roman  Cathohcs  obtain  a 
sufficient  numerical  majority  of  the  population  of  the  United 
States — as  they  are  destined  to  do — there  will  be  an  end  to 
civil  and  religious  liberty  ; "  that  is,  we  shall  be  governed  by 
the  incuml^ent  of  St.  Peter's  chair,  whoever  he  may  chance  to 
be.  The  oath  of  every  Roman  Catholic  bishop  and  arch- 
bishop binds  him  to  absolute  and  unquestioned  obedience, 
not  only  to  the  present  Pope,  but  to  his  successors,  and  to 
"  oppose  and  persecute "  all  who  do  not  submit  to  his 
authority. 

Was  it  not  time  to  take  the  alarm,  and  to  combine  to 
resist  the  secret  association  which  already  threatened  us  with 
the  loss  of  all  that  freemen,  and  free  Christians,  hold  dear  on 
earth  ?  Yet  the  fact  is,  that  even  this  did  not  produce  any 
associate  resistance  or  counteraction.  We  waited  for  some 
overt  act  of  the  Romish  hierarchy  to  rouse  us  to  opposition  ; 
and,  encouraged  by  the  ever  swelhng  tide  of  Romanist  immi- 
grants from  abroad,  the  priesthood  ventured  to  enter  upon  an 
open  field  of  combat,  and  everywhere  assailed  our  public 
school  system  of  education.  The  first  onset  v\^as,  we  think, 
in  the  city  of  New  York,  by  Bishop  Hughes  himself,  who 
apphed  to  the  city  council  for  one-fifth  of  the  annual  amount 
of  the  school  tax,  for  the  education  of  Catholic  cliildrcn, 


60  THE    "know    xotpiings." 

alleging  that  the  Bible,  and  ether  books  offensive  to  the 
Catholic  conscience,  were  read  m  the  pubUc  schools.  The 
council  appomted  a  committee  to  visit  the  schools,  and  ascer- 
tain what  books  were  read  in  the  schools,  and  whether  there 
was  really  anythmg  in  them  which  could  reasonably  be 
objected  to  by  any  rehgious  denomination.  In  the  meantime, 
the  pubhc  school  society  had  done  much  to  appease  the 
Romanists.  They  had  blotted  and  defaced  many  of  the 
books  in  use.  Some  whole  pages  were  obliterated  by  being 
stamped  with  printers'  ink,  on  other  pages  only  paragraphs 
were  expunged,  and  other  pages  were  pasted  together,  there- 
by obliterating  two  pages  at  once. 

The  committee  from  the  council  entering  upon  their  mis- 
sion, most  mischievously  took  it  into  their  heads  to  visit  the 
Roman  Catholic  free  schools,  which  were  of  course  under 
their  exclusive  management,  and  found  there  theses  same 
books  without  any  obliterations  whatever,  whether  by  ink  or 
paste,  showing  that  the  objection  to  them  was  a  mere  pre- 
tence, after  all  the  professions  made  of  conscientious  scruples. 
But  the  committee  found  no  Bibles  there.  The  Bible  had 
long  since  been  placed  in  the  index  expurg.Jorus,  and  was, 
therefore,  a  forbidden  book  to  all  Romanists,  unless  by  special 
permission  of  the  bishop.  We  have  now  a  large  collection 
of  the  expurgated  books,  and  find  that  most  of  the  passages 
obliterated  are  historical  and  indisputable.  So  that,  in  fact, 
the  demand  upon  the  public  school  society  was  to  falsify  his- 
tory for  the  accommodation  of  the  Romanists.  We  are  sorry 
the  societ)  complied  ;  but  it  was  done  to  appease,  what  they 


THE      "know      nothings."  61 

supposed  to  be,  a  conscientious  uneasiness  on  the  part  of  a 
denomination  whose  children,  most  of  all,  required  the  benefit 
of  common  free  school  instruction. 

Nothing  was  gained,  however,  by  the  sacrifice  ;  and  as  the 
bishop  could  not  prevail  on  the  council  to  grant  him  the 
money,  he  carried  his  grievances  to  the  State  legislature. 
But  neither  could  the  general  assembly  be  persuaded  to  let 
the  bishop  put  his  hand  into  the  strong  box  ;  yet  they  did 
what  was  equivalent,  going  far  towards  destroying  the  best 
public  schools  in  the  world.  A  law  was  enacted  by  which 
the  trustees  were  made  elective,  and  the  disinterested  and 
able  supervision  of  the  public  school  society  was  superseded 
in  some  of  the  wards  by  men  of  very  httle  education — some 
could  not  even  read,  and  kept  grog-shops  at  that.  If  any 
one  should  inquu-e  why  the  governor  should  recommend,  and 
the  legislature  enact  such  a  measure,  we  reply,  the  Papists 
had  votes  at  the  command  of  the  bishop,  and  the  pohticians 
were  in  the  market. 

After  this  the  opposition  to  the  Bible  in  the  public  schools 
was  carried  into  every  part  of  the  United  States  ;  and  even 
where  it  succeeded  it  did  not  appease  the  Romanists. 
The  sworn  enemies  of  knowledge  among  the  people,  nothing 
short  of  the  destruction  of  the  whole  system  of  the  common 
school  education  could  satisfy  the  Romish  hierarchy.  It  was 
now  that  the  ''Know-Nothings"  effected  an  organization,  and 
aroused  the  people  everywhere  to  a  sense  of  their  danger ; 
and  showed  that  this  danger  was  imminent,  notwithstanding 
the  Romanists  were  in  a  minority ;  for   the  majority  were 


C2  THE      "KNOVr      NOTHINGS." 

divided  into  two  great  parties,  each  catering  for  the  CathoKc 
vote,  which  was  ready  everywhere,  nndcr  the  direction  of  the 
priesthood,  to  be  cast  in  favor  of  whatever  party  would  most 
favor  the  pretensions  and  claims  of  "Holy  Mother  Church/' 

We  conclude,  therefore,  that  if  secret  party  associations 
are  an  evil,  yet  the  organization  of  the  "Know  Nothings"  is 
a  necessary  one — necessary  to  the  salvation  of  the  country 
from  the  despotic  rule  of  the  Romish  hierarchy — to  the 
preservation  of  our  civil  and  rehgious  freedom,  and  hence 
should  be  not  only  tolerated,  but  encouraged. 

That  the  pubUc  safety  cannot  be  entirely  trusted  to  either 
of  the  great  political  parties,  is  evident  from  reason  and  expe- 
rience. Nor  would  any  good  arise  from  the  destruction  of 
these  parties,  and  the  substitution  of  new  ones  ;  for  while  the 
contest  is  only  between  political  parties,  held  together  by  the 
hope  of  pubhc  office  or  emolument,  they  will  bid  high  for  the 
influence  of  the  Catholic  priesthood.  Any  counteraction  of 
this  sinister  influence  must  necessarily  come  from  those  who, 
rising  above  party  ties  and  compacts,  make  the  counteraction 
of  the  secret  society  which  threatens  the  public  liberty  an 
exclusive,  all-governing  principle,  in  the  exercise  of  the  right 
of  suffrage. 

The  influence  of  the  Romanists  on  our  political  men,  even 
Protestants,  is  seen  in  the  readiness  some  of  them  show  to 
com})ly  with  the  demand  of  the  priesthood  to  exclude  the 
Bible  from  our  common  schools.  They  affect  to  consider  it 
as  a  question  of  conscience,  and  if  their  reasoning  is  sound, 
they  ought  t:  exclude  all  religious  teachings  whatever;  for 


THE    "kxow    nothings."  63 

no  religious  doctrine,  or  moral  precept,  can  be  taught  which 
will  meet  no  objections.  We  hold  that  the  State  has  a  right 
to  make  the  Bible  a  school  book,  without  leave  of  either 
Cathohcs  or  Protestants.  The  design  of  public  schools  is  not 
to  make  theologians,  or  churchmen  of  any  kind,  but  to  make 
good  citizens.  This  object  cannot  be  obtained  without  incul- 
cating the  doctrine  of  future  retribution  ;  and  no  book  but 
the  Bible  does  this  by  divine  authority.  No  system  of  reh- 
gion  or  ethics,  not  founded  upon  the  Bible,  can  affect  to  teach 
of  authority,  or  to  enforce  either  doctrines  or  precepts  with 
suitable  sanctions.  The  Bible,  then,  is  the  only  school-book 
which  can  be  rehed  upon  by  the  State  to  carry  out  the  great 
purpose  of  common  school  education  ;  and  hence  the  State  has 
a  right  to  require  the  reading  of  it  in  the  schools  it  main- 
tains, without  consul tmg  the  wishes  of  any  sect  or  deno- 
mination. 


64  HAIL,      COLUMBIA. 


HAIL,    COLUMBIA. 

BY  JOSEPH   HOPKINSON. 

Hail,  Columbia !  happy  land  ! 
Hail,  ye  heroes  I  heaven-born  band ! 

Who  fought  and  bled  in  Freedom's  cause, 
Who  fought  and  bled  in  Freedom's  cause, 
And  wlien  the  storm  of  war  was  gone, 
Enjoy'd  the  peace  your  valour  won. 
Let  independence  be  our  boast. 
Ever  mindful  what  it  cost ; 
Ever  grateful  for  the  prize, 
Let  its  altar  reach  the  skies. 
Firm — ^united — let  us  be' 
Rallying  round  our  Liberty  ; 
As  a  band  of  brothers  join'd. 
Peace  and  safety  we  shall  find. 

Immortal  patriots  I  rise  once  more. 
Defend  your  righte,  defend  your  shore  ? 
Let  no  rude  foe,  with  impious  hand, 
Let  no  rude  foe,  with  impious  hand. 
Invade  the  shrine  where  sacred  lies 
Of  toil  and  blood  the  well-eam'd  prize. 


HAIL,       COLUMBIA.  65 

While  offering  peace  sincere  and  just, 
In  Heaven  we  place  a  manly  trust, 
That  truth  and  justice  will  prevail, 
And  every  scheme  of  bondage  fail. 
Firm — ^united,  &c. 

Sound,  sound  the  trump  of  Fame  ! 
Let  Washington's  great  name 

R-ing  through  the  world  with  loud  applause, 

Ring  through  the  world  with  loud  applause : 
Let  every  chme  to  Freedom  dear 
Listen  with  a  joyful  ear. 

With  equal  skill,  and  godlike  power, 

He  governs  in  the  fearful  horn' 

Of  horrid  war  ;  or  guides  with  ease, 

The  happier  times  of  honest  peace. 
Fu-m — united,  &c. 

Behold  the  Chief  who  now  commands, 

Once  more  to  serve  his  coimtry,  stands — 
The  rock  on  which  the  storm  will  beat. 
The  rock  on  Which  the  storm  will  beat : 

But,  arm'd  in  mtue  firm  and  true. 

His  hopes  are  fix'd  on  Heaven  and  you. 
When  hope  was  smking  in  dismay, 
And  glooms  obscured  Columbia's  day. 
His  steady  mind,  from  changes  free, 
Resolved  on  death  or  liberty. 
Firm — united,  &v 


66  ROMANISM      AND      LIBERTY. 


ROMANISM    AND  LIBERTY. 

BY  H.   FULLER 

We  entirely  agree  with  those  who  hold  that  religion,  in  so 
far  as  the  individual  enjoyment  thereof  is  concerned,  should 
not  enter  among  the  tests  by  which  the  citizen  is  politically 
tried  at  the  ballot  box.  Religion,  simply  as  a  matter  of 
individual  opinion  and  faith,  is  a  concern  which  it  is  more  safe 
to  leave  between  man  and  his  Maker,  than  to  intrust  it  to  any 
third  party,  whomsoever.  So,  at  least,  has  its  universal  his- 
tory proved.  Mankind  could  scarcely  have  been  more  irre- 
ligious had  creeds  and  priests  never  existed.  But  we  do  not 
agree  with  those  who  would  shut  from  the  ballot-box  and  the 
pohtical  forum  all  judgment  upon  religion,  whether  of  individ- 
uals or  classes,  where  it  is  beyond  ciuestion  that  this  rehgion 
has  more  in  it  of  pohtical  craft  than  of  soul-saving  godliness. 

To  come  directly  to  the  point,  we  do  not  agree  that  a  reli- 
gion, like  Roman  Catholicism,  judged  by  its  record,  past  or 
present — if  infallible,  its  record  should  be  always  the  same — 
Is  entitled  to  that  exemption  h'om  pohtical  discussion  and  judg- 
ment which  may  be,  and  we  think  is,  due  to  the  unvaunting, 
unambiguous,  and  sublhne  religion  of  Jesus.  No  ;  if  there  were 
no  world-wide  history,  written  too  often  in  letters  of  blood 
and  rapine,  by  which  to  judge  it,  we  have  seen  enough  in  our 


ROMANISM      AND      LIBERTY.  .67 

midst  in  this,  its  most  tolerable  and  tolerant  age,  to  satisfy 
us  that,  in  countermining  or  meeting  it  face  to  face,  we  have, 
in  Cathohcism,  to  do  with  a  vast  and  mighty  political  ma- 
chinery'— SL  machinery  worked  by  cunning  minds  and  skilful 
hands — that  has,  in  darker  ages,  clasped  all  who  disputed  its 
clauns,  whether  divine  or  temporal,  to  a  breast,  not  of  "tender 
mercy,"  but  of  implacable,  life-crushing  spikes  and  thorns. 

A  rehgion  which  compels  its  chiefs  to  swear,  in  the  hour 
of  sacred  investiture,"  to  yield  nothing  to  "principalities  or 
powers,"  that  can  conflict  with  the  will  and  interests  of  their 
one  and  only  sovereign,  the  temporality-graspmg  "  Successor 
of  St.  Peter,"  is  a  political  element  and  authority  to  be 
watched,  and  met,  and  bafiQed  wherever  the  people  would  rule 
the  State,  or  govern  their  own  temporal  affairs.  A  religion 
which  exacts  such  fealty  from  its  chiefs,  must  impose  a  no  less 
dangerous  obligation  on  its  rank  and  file  ;  and  thus  it  is  that, 
wherever  the  Roman  Catholic  is  a  citizen,  he  is  bound,  if 
Papal  ambition  or  need  demand,  to  abjm*e  all  other  allegiance. 
And  the  fealty  of  the  chiefs  goes  farther  than  this  ; — as  we 
saw  only  lately,  when  a  mutilated  oath  of  a  just  consecrated 
Cathohc  Bishop  was  sought  to  be  palmed  off  as  the  real, 
whole  thing — it  binds  him  to  a  ceaseless  persecution,  if  that 
will  avail,  of  any  or  all  who  are  without  the  Catholic  fold. 
There  is  no  denying  this,  had  there  never  been  quenched  a 
brand  in  a  martyi-'s  blood — had  never  a  soul  passed  to  heaven 
from  the  torture  of  the  rack.  It  is  in  the  nature  of  the 
religion  which,  of  itself,  is  a  perpetual  instigaton  to  violence 
agamst  all  who  are  not  of  "  the  faith." 


68  ROMANISM      AND      LIBERTY. 

In  our  own  country,  we  have  seen  but  a  mild  exercise  of  ita 
spirit  and  power,  yet  enough  to  betray  the  hoary  and  profound 
despotism  that  hes  concealed  beneath  its  local,  temporary 
inabihty.  It  has  not,  among  us,  dared,  or  rather,  has  not  seen 
fit — ^for  it  is  politic,  and  patient  withal — to  re-thunder  the 
motto  of  that  Austrian  bravo  of  the  ''Holy  Alliance,"  who 
said  ^' I  will  oppose  a  will  of  iron  (steel?)  to  the  progress 
of  liberal  principles ;  it  has  not  ventured — save  in  petty 
instances — to  burn  sa«cred  or  profane  literatm-e  in  our  high- 
ways ;  it  has  not  kindled  the  material  faggot,  nor  raised  the 
auto-da-fe  ;  it  has  not  denied  all  decent  grave-space  to  "here- 
tics." No  ;  it  is  not  bold  and  brave  in  defence  of  itself  ;  it 
does  not  spurn  tim^-serving  pohcy,  and  unmask  itself,  at  once, 
in  all  its  hideous  ugliness.  The  spirit  is  there,  burning  with 
hate  and  vengeance,  as  deeply  as  on  Bartholo new's  Day,  or 
when  the  Bohemian  expiated  his  Protestantism  in  fire,  or  the 
Emperor-monk  of  Yuste  dabbled  his  crucifix  in  heretic  gore  ; 
but  the  time  is  not  come  to  manifest  it  "in  the  flesh,"  and 
God  grant  that  it  never  may  come  ! 

But  it  has  done  all  it  dared  to  do.  It  has  seized  on  strong 
elements  of  temporal  power,  grasping  for  its  Pontifical  head 
temples,  and  treasm'es,  and  graves,  reared,  and  coined,  and 
dug  by  its  blind  followers'  sweat  and  blood.  It  has  isolated 
and  armed  its  herd — with  one  weapon  or  other — agauist  all 
hearty  coaUtion  with  the  people  of  the  land.  It  has  battled 
against  free  thought  and  fi-ee  speech,  and  particularly  against 
ihe  education  of  the  children  of  the  land,  free  and  in  common. 
In  the  name  of  a  religion  which  it  dare  not  trust  to  the  march 


ROMANISM      AND      LIBERTY.  69 

of  mind  and  the  progress  of  events,  it  has  stood  like  a  rock  of 
flint  in  the  way  of  liberty's  watch-lights — free  altars  and  free 
schools.  It  has  opposed,  secretly  always,  and  openly  when  it 
dared,  whatever  tended  to  make  a  people  more  free  and  self- 
reliant. 

If  it  has  veiled  the  pageants  and  mummeries  wherewith  it 
has  deluded  and  debauched  in  other  lands,  it  is  because  the 
intelhgence  of  the  people  at  large  would  not  tolerate  them  ; 
or  because,  perhaps,  it  has  found  ample  work  for  its  genius 
and  craft  in  attempting  to  stem  the  currents  of  mtelligence, 
lest  they  should  so  widen,  and  swell,  and  burst,  as  to  swirl 
down  the  Jesuitic  Roman  structure,  stripping  despotism  of 
its  mightiest  stronghold,  and  ridding  freedom  of  her  deadhest 
foe.  We  have  had  the  true  programme  of  what  Catholicism 
would  do  if  it  had  the  State  in  its  clutches — ^as  in  Spain,  or 
I^aples,  or  Rome — sounded  in  om^  ears  by  an  Archbishop's 
organ,  "The  Shepherd  of  the  Yalley."  It  would  suppress 
free  schools  and  common  schools ;  it  would  crush  or  censor 
the  press,  and  by  any  and  every  means  drive  back  the  people 
to  the  convenient  barbarism  of  ignorance  ;  it  would  make  them 
serfs  in  mmd,  soul  and  body,  and  finally,  by  putting  on  the 
inquisitorial  screws  of  an  "infallible  faith,"  have  but  one 
church,  one  fold,  and  no  heretics. 

Beautiful  and  harmonious  unity  !  We  can  fancy  this 
consummation  so  devoutly  labored  for  by  "  Shepherds  of  the 
Yalley ;" — honest  shepherds,  but  belchuag  the  truth  too  soon ; — 
it  would  not  be  different  fi'om  the  state  of  Christendom  ere 
the  Rvformers  arose;  all  knees  would  bend,  or  be  broken, 


to  ROMANISM      AND      LIBERTY. 

before  "  His  Holiness"  of  Rome;  all  tongues  would  sing  paeans 
to  the  tenant  of  the  Vatican,  or  be  plucked  out  by  the  roots  ; 
the  crosi  n*  and  the  sword  would  beat  the  bones  of  heresy  to 
dust ;  daring  Galileos  would  sup  m  dungeons  on  horrors ; 
emperors  and  kings,  and,  may  be,  presidents,  would  go  a-toe- 
kissing,  and  perchance  be  glad  to  expiate  some  rebelhous  deed 
hj  a  two  days'  shiver,  en  deshabille,  in  wintry  weather,  in  a 
Pope's  ante-chamber.  Ah,  there  would  be  unity ;  the  unity 
of  hand-bound  and  tongue-tied  slaves.  Frotest-smts  would 
be  hushed,  even  to  the  stillness  of  the  grave.  Then  there 
would  be  a  rare  time  for  shaven  monks — an  imperial  field 
of  plunder  and  rapine. 

But  let  us  beheve  that  a  counter  spirit  is  awake,  a  part  of 
whose  business  it  will  be  to  smite  this  rehgion,  in  so  far  as  it 
has  a  political,  anti-republican  aspect,  on  the  head — smite  it 
surely  and  swiftly.  No  intelligent  Catholic,  priest  or  layman, 
can  say  that  Roman  CathoUcism,  unshom,  is  compatible  with 
liberty.  He  who  is  true  to  the  last  extremity  to  his  obliga- 
tions as  a  Catholic,  cannot  be  equally  true  to  the  Constitution 
and  institutions  of  this  country.  The  matter  can  be  narrowed 
down  to  just  so  small  a  point  as  this.  There  is  a  deep,  univer- 
sal, crafty  and  dangerous  political  spu-it  in  connection  with 
the  Catholic  religion, — a  spirit  more  threatening  to  the  future 
of  our  Republic  than  any  other.  It  must  be  hunted  out,  and 
brought  into  the  light,  and  have  its  claws  pared.  Religion, 
purely,  we  would  have  divorced  from  pohtics,  but  politico- 
Catholicism  can  only  be  stripped  as  it  deserves,  in  the  free 
school-house,  ')y  the  unmuzzled  press,  and  at  the  ballot-box. 


i 


lUE      HEART      OF      "  S  E  V  E  NT  Y-6IX .  "  11 


THf  HEART  OF   "SEVENTY-SIX." 

BY  JAXE   GAY  FULLER. 

*  When  our  great  mother's  hand  essayed 

To  whip  and  make  us  yield  ; 
Our  stubborn  sires  quick  foot-pruits  made 

For  camp  and  battle-field  I 
The  lawyer  quit  his  client  then, 

The  parson,  wig  and  gown, 
And  hosts  of  panting  husbandmen 

Left  ploughshares  in  the  ground ! 

Banners  of  snowy  mist  were  hung 

Over  one  Autumn  morn, 
When  a  matron  and  two  maidens  young 

Went  reaping  harvest  corn  1 
The  maidens  were  of  gentle  blood, 

Lofty  that  matron's  brow  : 
''  Thou  wear'st  no  weeds  of  widowhood— 

Where  rests  thy  husband  now  ?  " 

"  Rests  ! " — and  she  haughtily  began-: 

"  I  joy  to  know  that  he 
Fights  foremost  in  the  battle's  van, 

For  Home  and  Libertv  ! 


72  THE      HEART      OF      "SEVENTY- SIX 

Auci  I  have  taken  in  my  hand, 

The  sickle  in  his  stead  ; 
For  jDatriot  women  of  the  land 

Should  reap  the  winter's  bread ! " 

"  Thou  elder  maiden,  thy  fan'  brow 

Rivals  our  mountain  snows, 
And  on  thy  cheek  scarce  hngers  now 

The  faintest  tint  of  rose  ! 
I  met  thee,  ere  the  summer-tide, 

A  dreamer  light  and  gay  : 
A  manly  form  was  at  thy  side, 

Where  doth  the  loiterer  stay?" 

And  proudly  then  that  maid  replied : 

"  My  lover  is  not  one 
To  hnger  at  a  lady's  side. 

While  glorious  deeds  are  done  ! 
He  stands  where  battle-thunder  jars, 

And  plumes  of  warriors  wave, 
Bearing  the  '  Eagle  and  the  Stars,' 

The  ensign  of  the  brave  ! " 

"  And  thou,  my  httle  maiden  dear, 
Thou  hast  not  strength,  I  ween, 

To  bind  the  heavy  bundles  here, 
Or  uro:e  the  sickle  keen  ! 


THE      HEART      OF      '' S  E  V  E  NT  Y-SIX  . "  13 

Call  thy  youug  brother  from  his  play  ! 

Why  doth  that  tear-drop  start  ?" 
She  said — "  He  is  a  Volunteer, 

And  bears  a  manly  heart ! 

"  We  taught  him  lessons  of  the  strife, 

And  how  to  use  a  gun, 
And  told  Mm  that  a  hero's  life 

Was  best  in  youth  begun  ! 
And  then  he  took  the  powder-horn, 

Which  om'  dead  grandsire  gave, 
Shouldered  his  gun,  and  one  bright  mora 

Went  forth  to  join  the  brave  ! 

"  And  are  all  gone — husband,  and  son — 

Lover,  and  l^rother — all ! 
Ye  lofty-hearted,  still  toil  on  ! 

No  evil  can  befall, 
A  country,  struggling  mightily. 

To  give  young  Freedom  birth  ; 
The  unborn  infant  yet  shall  be 

The  Giant  of  the  Earth  1" 


74  Webster's    REPLy    to    hulsemann 


WEBSTER'S  KEPLY  TO  HULSEMAIS^]^'. 


DEPARTMEXT  OF   STATE,  # 

Washington,  December  21,  1S50.    ) 

The  undersigneld,  Secretary  of  State  of  the  Uiiited  States, 
bad  the  honor  to  receive  some  thne  ago,  the  note  of  Mr. 
Hulsemann,  Charge  d'Affiih'es  of  his  Majesty,  the  Emperor  of 
Austria,  of  the  30th  September.  Causes,  not  arising  from 
any  want  of  personal  regard  for  Mr.  Hulsemann,  or  of  proper 
respect  for  his  government,  have  delayed  an  answer  until  the 
present  moment.  Having  submitted  Mr,  Iliilsemann's  letter 
to  the  President,  the  undersigned  is  now  directed  by  him  to 
return  the  following  reply. 

The  objects  of  Mr.  Hiilsemann's  note  are,  fir^t,  to  protest, 
by  order  of  liis  government,  against  the  steps  taken  by  the 
late  President  of  the  United  States  to  ascertain  the  progress 
and  probable  result  of  the  revolutionary  movements  in  Hun- 
gary ;  and,  secondly,  to  complain  of  some  expressions  in  the 
instructions  of  the  late  Secretary  of  State  to  Mr.  A.  Dudley 
Mann,  a  confidential  agent  of  the  United  States,  as  communi- 
cated by  President  Taylor  to  the  Senate  on  the  28th  of 
March  last. 

The  principal  ground  of  protest  is  founded  on  the  idea,  oi 
in  the  allegation,  that  the  Government  of  the  United  States, 
bv  the  mission  of  Mr.  Mann^  and  his  instructions,  has  inter- 


Webster's    reply    to    iiulsemann.  75 

furred  in  the  domestic  affairs  of  Austria  in  a  manner  unjust  or 
disrespectful  towards  that  power.  The  President's  message 
was  a  communication  made  by  him  to  the  Senate,  transmit- 
ting a  correspondence  between  the  Executive  Government 
and  a  confidential  agent  of  its  own.  This  would  seem  to  be 
itself  a  domestic  transaction,  a  mere  instance  of  intercourse 
))etween  the  President  and  the  Senate,  in  the  manner  whicli 
is  usual  and  indispensable  in  communications  between  the 
different  branches  of  the  government.  It  was  not  addressed 
either  to  Austria  or  Hungary ;  nor  was  it  any  public  mani- 
festo, to  which  any  foreign  State  was  called  upon  to  reply.  It 
was  an  account  of  its  transactions  communicated  by  the 
Executive  Government  to  the  Senate,  at  the  request  of  that 
])ody ;  made  public,  indeed,  but  made  public  only  because 
such  is  the  common  and  usual  course  of  proceeding ;  and  it 
may  be  regarded  as  somewhat  strange,  tlierefore,  that  the 
Austrian  Cabinet  did  not  perceive  that,  by  the  instructions 
given  to  Mr.  Hi'ilsemann,  it  was  itself  interfering  with  the 
domestic  concerns  of  a  foreign  State,  the  very  thing  which  is 
the  ground  of  its  complaint  against  the  United  States. 

^his  Department  has,  on  former  occasions,  informed  tlie 
ministers  of  foreign  powers  that  a  communication  from  the 
President  to  either  house  of  Congress  is  regarded  as  a  do- 
mestic communica'*.ion,  of  which,  ordinarily,  no  foreign  State 
lias  cognizance  ;  and,  in  more  recent  instances,  the  great 
inconvenience  of  making  such  communications  subjects  of 
diplomatic  correspondence  and  discussion  has  been  fully  shown. 
If  it  had  been  the  pleasure  of  Ins  majesty,  the  Emperor  of 


76  Webster's    reply    t      hulseman??. 

Austria,  during  the  struggles  in  Hungary,  to  liave  admon- 
ished the  Provisional  Government  or  the  people  of  that 
country  against  involving  themselves  in  disasters,  by  following 
tlic  evil  and  dangerous  example  of  the  United  States  of 
America  in  making  efforts  for  the  establishment  of  indepen- 
dent Governments,  such  an  admonition  from  that  Sovereign 
to  his  Hungarian  subjects,  would  not  have  originated  here  a 
diplomatic  correspondence.  The  President  might,  perhaps,  on 
this  ground,  have  declined  to  direct  any  particular  reply  to 
Mr.  Hiilsemann's  note  ;  but,  out  of  proper  respect  for  the 
Austrian  Government,  it  has  been  thought  better  to  answer 
that  note  at  length  :  and  the  more  especially,  as  the  occasion 
is  not  unfavorable  for  the  expression  of  the  general  sentiments 
of  the  Government  of  the  United  States  upon  the  topics 
which  that  note  discusses. 

A  leading  subject  in  Mr.  Hulsomann's  note,  is  that  of  the 
correspondence  between  Mr.  Hiilsemann  and  the  predecessor 
of  the  undersigned,  in  which  Mr.  Clayton,  by  direction  of  the 
President,  informed  Mr.  Hulsemaim  "that  Mr.  Mann's  mis- 
sion had  no  other  object  in  view  than  to  obtain  reliable  infor- 
mation as  to  the  true  state  of  affairs  in  Hungary,  by  personal 
observation."  Mr.  Hiilsemann  remarks,  that  "this  explana- 
tion can  hardly  be  admitted,  for  it  says  very  little  as  to  the 
cause  of  the  anxiety  which  was  felt  to  ascertain  the  chances 
of  the  revolutionists."  As  this,  however,  is  the  only  purpose 
which  can,  with  any  appearance  of  truth,  be  attributed  to  the 
agency  ;  as  nothing  whatever  is  alleged  by  Mr.  Hiilsemann  to 
have  been  either  done  or  said  l)v  the  asrent  inconsistent  with 


vvebster's     .  eply    to    hulsem;nx.  71 

such  an  object,  the  imdersigned  conceives  that  Mr.  Clayton's 
explanation  ought  to  be  deemed,  not  only  admissible,  but  quite 
satisfactory.  Mr.  Htilsemann  states,  m  the  course  of  his  note, 
that  his  instructions  to  address  his  present  communication  to 
Mr.  Clayton  reached  Washington  about  the  time  of  the  la- 
mented death  of  the  late  President,  and  that  he  delayed  from 
a  sense  of  propriety  the  execution  of  his  task  until  the  new 
administration  should  be  fully  organized  :  "a  delay  which  he 
now  rejoices  at,  as  it  has  given  him  the  opportunity  of  ascer- 
taining from  the  new  President  himself,  on  the  occasion  of  the 
reception  of  the  diplomatic  corps,  that  the  fundamental  policy 
of  the  United  States,  so  frequently  proclaimed,  would  guide 
the  relations  of  the  American  Government  with  other  Powers." 
Mr.  Hiilsemann  also  observes  that  it  is  in  his  power  to  assure 
the  undersigned  "  that  the  Imperial  Government  is  disposed 
to  cultivate  relations  of  friendship  and  good  understanding 
with  the  United  States."  The  President  receives  this  assur- 
ance of  the  disposition  of  the  Imperial  Government  with  great 
satisfaction,  and,  in  consideration  of  the  friendly  relations  of 
the  two  Governments,  thus  mutually  recognized,  and  of  the 
peculiar  nature  of  the  incidents  by  which  their  good  under- 
standing is  supposed  by  Mr.  Hiilsemann  to  have  been,  for  a 
moment,  disturbed  or  endangered,  the  President  regrets  that 
Mr.  Hiilsemann  did  not  feel  himself  at  liberty  wholly  to  for- 
bear from  the  execution  of  instructions,  which  were  of  course 
transmitted  from  Vienna  without  any  foresight  of  the  state  of 
thmgs  under  which  they  would  reach  Washington.  If  Mr. 
Hiilsemann  saw,  in  the  address  of  the  President  to  the  diplo- 


78  webstp:u's    ketly    to    iiui.semaxx. 

matic  corps,  satisfacton  pledges  of  the  sentiments  and  the 
policy  of  this  Government,  in  regard  to  neutral  rights  and 
neutral  duties,  it  might,  perhaps,  have  been  better  not  to 
bring  on  a  discussion  of  past  transactions.  But  the  under- 
signed readily  admits  that  this  was  a  question  fit  only  for  tlie 
consideration  and  decision  of  Mr.  Hiilsemann  himself ;  and  al- 
tliough  the  President  does  not  see  that  any  good  pm*pose  can 
be  answered  by  reopening  the  inquiry  into  the  propriety  of 
the  steps  taken  by  President  Taylor,  to  ascertain  the  prol3able 
issue  of  the  late  civil  war  in  Hungary,  justice  to  his  memory 
requires  the  undersigned  briefly  to  restate  the  history  of  those 
steps,  and  to  show  their  consistency  with  the  neutral  policy 
which  has  invariably  guided  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  in  its  foreign  relations,  as  well  as  ^ith  the  established 
and  well-settled  principles  of  national  intercourse,  and  the  doc- 
trines of  public  law. 

Tlie  undersigned  will  first  observe  that  the  President  is  per- 
suaded, his  majesty  the  Emperor  of  Austria  does  not  thhik 
that  the  Government  of  the  United  States  ought  to  view, 
with  unconcern,  the  extraordinaiy  events  which  have  occurred, 
not  only  in  his  dominions,  but  in  many  other  parts  of  Europe, 
since  February,  1848.  The  Government  and  people  of  the 
United  States,  like  other  intelligent  governments  and  commu- 
nities, take  a  lively  interest  in  the  movements  and  events  of 
this  remarkable  age,  in  whatever  })art  of  the  world  they  may 
be  exhiljited.  But  the  interest  taken  l)y  the  United  States 
in  those  events  has  not  proceeded  from  any  disposition  to  de- 
part from  that  neutrality  towards  foreign  powers,  which  is 


"vvebster's    reply    to    r.lsemann.  T9 

among  the  deepest  principles  and  the  most  cherislied  traditions 
of  the  pohtical  history  of  the  Union.  It  has  been  the  neces- 
sary effect  of  the  unexampled  character  of  the  events  them- 
selves, which  could  not  fail  to  arrest  the  attention  of  the  co- 
temporary  world  ;  as  they  will  doubtless  fill  a  memorable  page 
in  history.  But  the  undersigned  goes  farther,  and  freely  ad- 
mits that,  in  proportion  as  these  extraordinary  events  appeared 
to  have  their  origin  in  those  great  ideas  of  responsible  and 
popular  governments,  on  which  the  American  Constitutions 
themselves  are  wholly  founded,  they  could  not  but  command 
th-e  warm  sympathy  of  the  people  of  this  country. 

Well-known  circumstances  in  their  history,  indeed  then* 
whole  history,  liave  made  them  the  representatives  of  purely 
popular  principles  of  government.  In  this  light  they  now 
stand  before  the  world.  They  could  not,  if  they  would,  con- 
ceal their  character,  their  condition,  or  their  destiny.  They 
could  not,  if  they  so  desired,  shut  out  from  the  view  of  man- 
kind the  causes  which  have  placed  them,  in  so  short  a  national 
career,  in  the  station  which  they  now  hold  among  the  civilized 
States  of  the  world.  They  could  not,  if  they  desired  it, 
suppress  either  the  thoughts  or  the  hopes  which  arise  in 
men's  minds,  in  other  countries,  from  contemplating  their 
successful  example  of  free  government.  That  very  intelligent 
and  distinguished  personage,  the  Emperor  Joseph  the  Second, 
was  among  the  first  to  discern  this  necessary  consequence  of 
the  American  Revolution  on  the  sentiments  and  opinions  of 
the  people  of  Europe.  In  a  letter  to  his  Minister  in  the 
Netherlands,  in  178 1,  he  observes  that  "it  is  remarkable 


80  webstek's    reply    to    hulsemann 

tliat  France,  by  the  assistance  which  she  afforded  to  the 
Americans,  gave  birth  to  reflections  on  freedom."  This  fact, 
which  the  sagacity  of  that  monarch  perceived  at  so  early  a 
day,  is  now  kno^^ii  and  admitted  l)y  intelligent  powers  all 
over  the  world.  True,  indeed,  it  is,  that  the  prevalence  on 
the  other  continent  of  sentiments  favorable  to  republican 
liberty,  is  the  result  of  the  reaction  of  America  upon  Europe  ; 
and  the  source  and  centre  of  this  reaction  has  doubtless  been, 
and  now  is,  in  these  United  States.  The  position  thus  belong- 
ing to  the  United  States  is  a  fact  as  inseparable  from  their 
history,  their  constitutional  organization,  and  their  character, 
as  the  opposite  position  of  the  powers  composing  the  European 
alliance  is  from  the  history  and  constitutional  organization  of 
the  government  of  those  powers.  The  sovereigns  who  form 
that  alhance  have  not  unfrequently  felt  it  their  right  to  inter- 
fere with  the  political  movements  of  foreign  States  ;  and  have, 
in  theu'  manifestoes  and  declarations,  denounced  the  popular 
ideas  of  the  age  in  terms  so  comprehensive  as  of  necessity  to 
include  the  United  States,  and  their  forms  of  government.  It 
is  well  known  that  one  of  the  leading  priucii)les  announced  by 
the  allied  sovereigns,  after  the  restoration  of  the  Bourbons, 
is,  that  all  popular  or  constitutional  rights  are  holden  no 
otherwise  than  as  grants  and  indulgences  from  crowned  heads. 
"Useful  and  necessary  changes  in  legislation  and  administra- 
tion," says  the  Lay  bach  Circular  of  May,  1821,  "ought  only 
to  emanate  from  the  free  will  and  intelligent  conviction  of 
those  whom  God  has  rendered  responsible  for  power  ;  all  that 
deviates  fi'om  this  line  necessarily  leads  to  disorder,  commo 


Webster's    reply    to    hulsemann.  81 

tions,  and  evils  far  more  insufferable  than  those  which  they 
pretend  to  remedy."  And  his  late  Austrian  majesty,  Francis  I., 
is  reported  to  have  declared,  in  an  address  to  the  Hungarian 
Diet,  in  1820,  that  "the  whole  world  had  become  foolish, 
and,  leaving  their  ancient  laws,  was  in  search  of  imaginary 
constitutions."  These  declarations  amount  to  nothing  less 
tlian  a  denial  of  the  lawfulness  of  the  origin  of  the  Govern- 
nicnt  of  the  United  States,  since  it  is  certain  that  that  Gov- 
ernment was  estabhshed  in  consequence  of  a  change  which  did 
not  proceed  from  thrones,  or  the  permission  of  crowned  heads. 
But  the  Government  of  the  United  States  heard  these  denun- 
ciations of  its  fundamental  principles  without  remonstrance, 
or  the  disturbance  of  its  equanimity.  This  was  thirty  years 
ago. 

The  power  of  this  Repubhc,  at  the  present  moment,  is 
spread  over  a  region,  one  of  the  richest  and  most  fertile  on 
the  globe,  and  of  an  extent  in  comparison  with  which  the 
possessions  of  the  House  of  Hapsburg  are  but  as  a  patch  on 
the  earth's  surface.  Its  population,  already  twenty-five  mil- 
lions, will  exceed  that  of  the  Austrian  empire  withui  the 
period  during  which  it  may  be  hoped  that  Mr.  Hulsemann 
may  yet  remain  in  the  honorable  discharge  of  his  duties  to 
his  Government.  Its  navigation  and  commerce  are  hardly 
exceeded  by  the  oldest  and  most  commercial  nations?  its 
maritime  means  and  its  maritime  power  may  be  seen  by 
Austria  herself,  in  all  seas  where  she  has  ports,  as  well'' as  it 
may  be  seen,  also,  in  all  other  quarters  of  the  globe.  Life, 
Uberty,  property,  and  all  personal  rights,  are  amply  secured 


82  Webster's    reply    to    hulsemann. 

io  all  citizens,  and  protected  by  just  and  stable  laws ;  and 
credit,  public  and  private,  is  as  well  established  as  in  any 
government  of  Continental  Europe.  And  the  country,  in  all 
its  interests  and  concerns,  partakes  most  largely  in  all  the 
improvements  and  progress  which  distinguish  the  age.  Cer- 
tainly, the  United  States  may  be  pardoned,  even  by  those 
who  profess  adherence  to  tlie  principles  of  absolute  govern- 
ments, if  they  entertain  an  ardent  affection  for  those  popular 
forms  of  political  organization  which  have  so  rapidly  advanced 
their  own  prosperity  and  happiness,  which  enabled  them,  in 
so  short  a  period,  to  bring  their  country,  and  the  hemisphere 
to  whicii  it  belongs,  to  the  notice  and  respectful  regard,  not 
to  say  the  admiration,  of  the  civilized  world.  Nevertheless, 
the  United  States  have  abstained,  at  all  times,  from  acts  of 
interference  with  the  political  changes  of  Europe.  They  can 
not,  however,  fail  to  cherish  always  a  lively  interest  in  the 
fortunes  of  nations  struggling  for  institutions  like  then*  own. 
But  this  sympathy,  so  far  from  being  necessarily  a  hostile 
feeling  towards  any  of  the  parties  to  these  great  national 
struggles,  is  quite  consistent  with  amicable  relations  with 
them  all.  The  Hmigarian  people  are  three  or  four  tunes  as 
numerous  as  the  inhabitants  of  these  United  States  were 
when  the  American  Revolution  broke  out.  They  possess,  in 
a  distinct  language,  and  in  other  respects,  important  elements 
of  a  separate  nationality,  which  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  in  this 
country  did  not  possess  ;  and  if  the  United  States  wish  success 
to  countries  contending  for  popular  constitutions  and  national 
independence,  it  is  only  because  they  regard  such  constitutions 


Webster's    reply    to    hulsema!^n.  83 

and  such  national  independence,  not  as  imaginary,  but  as  real 
blessings.  They  claim  no  right,  however,  to  take  part  in  the 
struggles  of  foreign  powers  in  order  to  promote  these  ends. 
It  is  only  in  defence  of  his  own  Government,  and  its  principles 
and  character,  that  the  undersigned  has  now  expressed  him- 
self on  this  subject.  But  when  the  United  States  behold  the 
people  of  foreign  countries,  without  any  such  interference, 
spontaneously  moving  towards  the  adoption  of  institutions  like 
their  own,  it  surely  can  not  be  expected  of  them  to  remain 
wholly  indifferent  spectators. 

In  regard  to  the  recent  very  important  occurrences  in  the 
Austrian  Empire,  the  undersigned  freely  admits  the  difficulty 
which  exists  in  this  country,  and  is  alluded  to  by  Mr.  HUlse- 
mann,  of  obtaining  accurate  information.  But  this  difficulty 
is  by  no  means  to  be  ascribed  to  what  Mr.  Hiilsemann  calls 
— with  little  justice,  as  it  seems  to  the  undersigned — "the 
mendacious  rumors  propagated  by  the  American  press." 
For  information  on  this  subject,  and  others  of  the  same  kind, 
the  American  press  is,  of  necessity,  almost  wholly  dependent 
upon  that  of  Europe  ;  and  if  "  mendacious  rumors  "  respect- 
ing Austrian  and  Hungarian  affairs  have  been  anywhere 
propagated,  that  propagation  of  falsehoods  has  been  most 
prolific  on  the  European  continent,  and  in  comitrics  imme- 
diately bordering  on  the  Austrian  Empire.  But,  wherever 
these  errors  may  have  originated,  they  certainly  justified  the 
late  President  in  seeking  true  information  through  authentic 
cliannels.  His  attention  was  first  particularly  drawn  to  the 
state  of  things  in  Hungary,  by  the  correspondence  of  Mr. 


84  WEBSTER^S      REPLY     TO      HULSEMANN. 

Stiles,  Charge  d' Affaires  of  the  United  States  at  Vienna.  Tr 
the  autumn  of  1848,  an  application  was  made  to  this  gcn- 
tlemai:.  on  behalf  of  Mr.  Kossuth,  formerly  minister  of  finance 
for  tlie  kingdom  of  Hungary  by  Imperial  appointment,  but  at 
the  time  the  application  was  made,  chief  of  the  Revolution- 
ary Government.  The  object  of  this  apphcation  was  to 
obtain  the  good  offices  of  Mr.  Stiles  with  the  Imperial  Govern- 
ment, with  a  view  to  the  suspension  of  hostilities.  This  appli- 
cation became  the  subject  of  a  conference  between  Prince 
Schwarzenberg,  the  Imperial  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  and 
Mr.  Stiles.  The  Prince  commended  t'le  considerateness  and 
propriety  with  which  Mr.  Stiles  had  acted  ;  and,  so  far  from 
disapproving  his  interference,  advised  him,  in  case  he  received 
a  further  communication  from  the  Revolutionary  Government 
in  Hungary,  to  have  an  interview  with  Prince  Windisch- 
gratz,  who  was  charged  by  the  Emperor  with  the  proceedings 
determined  on  in  relation  to  that  kingdom.  A  week  after 
these  occurrences,  Mr.  Stiles  received,  through  a  secret  chan- 
nel, a  communication  signed  by  L.  Kossuth,  president  of  the 
committee  of  defence,  and  countersigned  by  Prancis  Pnlsl^, 
secretary  of  state.  On  the  receipt  of  this  communication, 
Mr.  Stiles  had  an  interview  with  Prince  Windischgratz, 
"  who  received  him  with  the  utmost  kindness,  and  thanked, 
him  for  liis  efforts  toward  reconciling  the  existing  difficulties.*^ 
Such  were  the  incidents  which  first  drew  the  attention  of  tlw:- 
Government  of  the  United  States  particularly  to  the  affairs 
of  Hungary,  and  the  conduct  of  Mr.  Stiles,  though  acting 
without  instrnction  in    a  matter  of    much  delieacv,  having 


Webster's    reply    to    hulsemann  85 

been  viewed  with  satisfaction  by  tlie  Imperial  Government, 
was  approved  by  that  of  the  United  States, 

In  the  course  of  the  year  1848,  and  in  the  early  part  of 
1849,  a  considerable  number  of  Hungarians  came  to  the 
United  States.  Among  them  were  individuals  representing 
themselves  to  be  in  the  confidence  of  the  Revolutionary  Gov- 
ernment, and  by  these  persons  the  President  was  strongly 
urged  to  recognize  the  existence  of  that  Government.  In 
these  apphcations,  and  in  the  manner  m  which  they  were 
viewed  by  the  President,  there  was  nothing  unusual ;  still 
less  was  there  anything  unauthorized  by  the  law  of  nations. 
It  is  the  right  of  every  independent  State  to  enter  into 
friendly  relations  with  every  other  independent  State.  Of 
course,  questions  of  prudence  naturally  arise  in  reference  to 
new  States,  brought  by  successful  revolutions  into  the  family 
of  nations  ;  but  it  is  not  to  be  required  of  neutral  powers 
that  they  should  await  the  recognition  of  the  new  Govern- 
ment by  the  parent  State.  No  principle  of  public  law  has 
been  more  frequently  acted  upon,  within  the  last  thh'ty  years, 
by  the  great  powers  of  the  world  than  this.  Within  that 
period  eight  or  ten  new  States  have  established  independent 
Governments  within  the  limits  of  the  colonial  dominions  of 
Spain,  on  this  contment  ;  and  in  Europe  the  same  thing  has 
been  done  by  Belgium  and  Greece.  The  existence  of  all 
these  Governments  was  recognized  by  some  of  the  leading 
powers  of  Europe,  as  well  as  by  the  United  States,  before  it 
was  acknowledged  by  the  States  from  which  they  had  sepa- 
rated themselves.     If,  therefore,  the  United  States  had  gone 


8b  Webster's    reply    to    hulsemaxn. 

so  far  as  formally  to  acknowledge  the  inclependeuce  of  Hun- 
gary, although,  as  the  result  has  proved,  it  would  have  been 
a  precipitate  step,  and  one  from  which  no  benefit  would  have 
resulted  to  cither  party,  it  would  not,  nevertheless,  have  been 
an  act  against  the  law  of  nations,  provided  they  took  no  part 
in  her  contest  with  Austria.  But  the  United  States  did  no 
such  thing.  Not  only  did  they  not  yield  to  Hungary  any 
actual  countenance  or  succor,  not  only  did  they  not  show 
their  ships-of-war  in  the  Adriatic  with  any  menacing  or  hos- 
tile aspect,  but  they  studiously  abstained  from  everything 
which  had  not  been  done  in  other  cases  in  times  past,  and 
contented  themselves  with  instituting  an  inquiry  into  the 
truth  and  reality  of  alleged  political  occurrences.  Mr.  Hiilse- 
mann  incorrectly  states,  unintentionally  certainly,  the  nature 
of  the  mission  of  this  agent,  when  he  says  that  "  a  United 
States  agent  had  been  dispatched  to  Vienna  with  orders  to 
watch  for  a  favorable  moment  to  'ecognize  the  Hungarian 
republic,  and  to  conclude  a  treaty  of  commerce  with  the 
same."  This,  indeed,  would  have  been  a  lawful  object,  but 
Mr.  Mann's  errand  w^as,  in  the  first  instance,  purely  one  of 
inquhy.  He  had  no  power  to  act,  unless  he  had  first  come 
to  the  conviction  that  a  firm  and  stable  Hungarian  Govern- 
ment existed.  "The  principal  object  the  President  has  in 
view,"  according  to  his  instructions,  "  is  to  obtain  minute  and 
reliable  information  in  regard  to  Hungary  in  connection  wilh 
the  affairs  of  adjoining  countries,  the  probable  issue  of  the 
present  revolutionary  movements,  and  the  chances  we  may 
have  of  forming  commercial  arrangements  witli  that  power 


Webster's    reply    to    iiulsemann.  87 

favorable  to  the  United  States."  Agaiu,  in  the  same  paper, 
it  is  said  :  "  The  object  of  the  President  is  to  obtain  informa- 
tion in  regard  to  Hungary,  and  her  resources  and  prospects, 
with  a  view  to  an  early  recognition  of  her  independence,  and 
the  formation  of  commercial  relations  mth  her."  It  was  only 
in  the  event  that  the  new  Government  should  appear,  in  the 
opinion  of  the  agent,  to  be  firm  and  stable,  that  the  President 
proposed  to  recommend  its  recognition. 

Mr.  Hiilsemann,  in  qualifying  these  steps  of  President  Tay- 
lor with  the  epithet  of  "hostile,"  seems  to  take  for  granted 
that  the  inquiry  could,  in  the  expectation  of  the  President, 
have  but  one  result,  and  that  favorable  to  Hungary.  If  this 
were  so,  it  would  not  change  the  case.  But  the  American 
government  sought  for  nothing  but  truth  ;  it  desired  to  learn 
the  facts  through  a  reliable  channel.  It  so  happened,  in  the 
chances  and  vicissitudes  of  human  affairs,  that  the  result  was 
adverse  to  the  Hungarian  Revolution.  The  American  agent, 
as  was  stated  in  his  instructions  to  be  not  unlikely,  found  the 
condition  of  Hungarian  affau-s  less  prosperous  than  it  had 
been,  or  had  been  believed  to  be.  He  did  not  enter  Hun- 
gary, nor  hold  any  direct  communication  with  her  revolution- 
ary leaders.  He  reported  against  the  recognition  of  her  inde- 
pendence, because  he  found  she  had  been  unable  to  set  up  a 
firm  and  stable  government.  He  carefully  forbore,  as  his 
instructions  required,  to  give  publicity  to  his  mission,  and  tho 
undersigned  supposes  that  the  Austrian  government  first 
learned  its  existence  from  the  communications  of  the  Presi- 
dent to  the  Senate. 


88  Webster's    reply    to    hulsemann. 

Mr  Hulsemann  will  oljserve  from  this  statement  that  Mr. 
Mami's  mission  was  wholly  miobjectionable,  and  strictly 
within  the  rule  of  the  law  of  nations,  and  the  duty  of  the 
United  States  as  a  neutral  power.  He  will  accordingly  feel 
how  little  foundation  there  is  for  his  remark,  that  "  those  who 
did  not  hesitate  to  assume  the  responsibility  of  sending  Mr, 
Dudley  Mann  on  such  an  errand,  should,  independent  of  con- 
siderations of  propriety,  have  borne  in  mind  that  they  were 
exposing  their  emissary  to  be  treated  as  a  spy."  A  spy  is  a 
person  sent  by  one  belligerent  to  gam  secret  information  of 
the  forces  and  defences  of  the  other,  to  be  used  for  hostile 
purposes.  According  to  practice,  he  may  use  deception, 
under  the  penalty  of  being  lawfully  hanged  if  detected.  To 
give  this  name  and  character  to  a  confidential  agent  of  a 
neutral  power,  bearing  the  commission  of  his  country,  and 
sent  for  a  purpose  fully  warranted  by  the  law  of  nations,  is 
not  only  to  aljuse  language,  but  also  to  confound  all  just 
ideas,  and  to  announce  the  wildest  and  most  extravagant 
notions,  such  as  certainly  were  not  to  be  expected  in  a  grave 
diplomatic  paper ;  and  the  President  directs  the  undersigned 
to  say  to  Mr.  Hulsemann,  that  the  American  Government 
would  regard  such  an  imputation  upon  it  by  the  Cabinet  of 
Austria,  as  that  it  employs  spies,  and  that  in  a  quarrel  none 
of  its  own,  as  distinctly  ofi'ensive,  if  it  did  not  presume,  as  it 
is  willing  to  presume,  that  the  word  used  in  the  original  Ger- 
man was  not  of  equivalent  meaning  with  "  spy"  in  the  English 
language,  or  that  in  some  other  way  the  employment  of  such 
an  opprobrious  term  may  be  explained.     Had  the  Imperial 


Webster's    reply    to    hulsemann.  89 

Government  of  Austria  subjected  Mr.  Mann  to  the  treatment 
of  a  spy,  it  would  have  placed  itself  without  the  pale  of 
civilized  nations  ;  and  the  Cabinet  of  Yienna  may  be  assured 
that  if  it  had  carried,  or  attempted  to  carry,  any  such  lawless 
pui'pose  into  effect,  in  the  case  of  an  authorized  agent  of  this 
Government,  the  spirit  of  the  people  of  this  country  would 
have  demanded  immediate  hostilities  to  be  waged  by  the 
utmost  exertion  of  the  power  of  the  Republic,  military  and 
naval. 

Mr.  Htilsemann  proceeds  to  remark  that  ''this  extremely 
painful  incident,  therefore,  might  have  been  passed  over,  with- 
out any  written  evidence  being  left  on  our  part  in  the  archives 
of  the  United  States,  had  not  General  Taylor  thought  proper 
to  revive  the  w^hole  subject,  by  communicating  to  the  Senate, 
in  his  message  of  the  18th  [28th]  of  last  March,  the  instruc- 
tions with  which  Mr.  Maun  had  been  furnished  on  the  occa- 
sion of  his  mission  to  Vienna.  The  publicity  which  has  been 
given  to  that  document  has  placed  the  Imperial  Government 
under  the  necessity  of  entering  a  formal  protest,  through  its 
official  representatives,  against  the  proceedings  of  the  American 
Government,  lest  that  Government  should  construe  our  silence 
into  approbation,  or  toleration  even,  of  the  principles  which 
appear  to  have  guided  its  action  and  the  means  it  has  adopt- 
ed." The  undersigned  reasserts  to  Mr.  Hiilsemann,  and  to 
the  Cabmet  of  Vienna,  and  m  the  presence  of  the  world,  that 
the  steps  taken  by  President  Taylor,  now  protested  against 
by  the  Austrian  Government,  were  warranted  by  the  law  of 
nations  and  agreeable  to  the  usages  of  civilized  States.    With 


00  Webster's    reply    to    hulssmaxn. 

« 
respect  to  the  communication  of  Mr.  Mann's  instructions  to 

the  Senate,  and  the  language  in  which  they  are  couched,  it 
has  already  been  said,  and  Mr.  Hiilsemann  must  feel  the  justice 
of  the  remark,  that  these  are  domestic  affairs,  in  reference  to 
wliich  the  Government  of  the  United  States  can  not  admit 
the  slightest  responsibility  to  the  Government  of  his  Imperial 
Majesty.     No  State,  deserving  the  appellation  of  independent, 
can  permit  the  language  in  which  it  may  instruct  its  own  offi- 
cers in  the  discharge  of  their  duties  to  itself  to  be  called  in 
question,  under  any  pretext,  by  a  foreign  power.    But,  even  if 
this  were  not  so,  Mr.  Hulsemann  is  in  an  error  in  stating  that 
the  Austrian  Government  is  called  an  "Iron  Rule"  in  Mr. 
Mann's  instructions.     That  phrase  is  not  found  in  tlie  paper  ; 
and  in  respect  to  the  honorary  epithet  bestowed  in  ]\Ir.  Mann's 
instructions  on  the  late  chief  of  the  Revolutionary  Govern- 
ment of  Hungary,  Mr.  Hiilsemann  will  bear  in  mind  that  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  can  not  justly  be  expected, 
in  a  confidential  communication  to  its  own  agent,  to  withhold 
from  an  individual  an  epithet  of  distinction  of  wMcli  a  great 
part  of  the  world  thinks  him  worthy,  merely  on  the  ground 
that  his  own  Government  regards  him  as  a  rebel.     At  an 
early  stage  of  the  American  Revolution,  while  Washington 
was  considered  by  the  English  Government  as  a  rebel  chief, 
he  was  regarded  on  the  continent  of  Europe  as  an  illustrious 
hero.     But  the  undersigned  will  take  the  liberty  of  bringing 
the  Cabinet  of  Yienna  into  the  presence  of  its  own  predeces- 
sors, and  of  citing  for  its  consideration  the  conduct  of  the  Im- 
perial Government  itself.     In  the  year  1*1 7 1,  the  war  of  the 


Webster's    reply    to    hulsemann.  91 

American  Revolution  was  raging  all  over  these  United  States  ; 
England  was  prosecuting  that  Vv^ar  with  a  most  resolute  deter- 
mination, and  by  the  exertion  of  all  her  military  means  to  the 
fullest  extent.  Germany  was  at  that  time  at  peace  with  Eng- 
land ;  and  yet  an  agent  of  that  Congress,  which  was  looked 
upon  hj  England  in  no  other  light  than  that  of  a  body  in 
open  rebellion,  w^as  not  only  received  with  great  respect  by 
the  embassador  of  the  Empress  Queen  at  Paris,  and  by  the 
minister  of  the  Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany,  who  afterwards 
mounted  the  imperial  throne,  but  resided  in  Vienna  for  a  con- 
siderable time ;  not,  indeed,  officiously  acknowledged,  but 
treated  with  courtesy  and  respect ;  and  the  Emperor  suffered 
himself  to  ])e  persuaded  l3y  that  agent  to  exert  himself  to  pre- 
vent the  German  powers  from  furnishing  troops  to  England 
to  enable  her  to  suppress  the  rebellion  in  America.  Neither 
Mr.  Hiilsemann,  nor  the  Cabhiet  of  Vienna,  it  is  presumed, 
will  undertake  to  say  that  anything  said  or  done  by  this  Gov- 
ernment in  regard  to  the  recent  war  between  Austria  and 
Hungary  is  not  ])orne  out,  and  much  more  than  borne  out,  by 
this  example  of  the  Imperial  Court.  It  is  believed  that  thf 
Emperor  Joseph  the  Second  habitually  spoke  in  terms  of 
respect  and  admiration  of  the  character  of  Washington,  as  he 
is  known  to  have  done  of  that  of  Franklin  ;  and  he  deemed 
it  no  infraction  of  neutrality  to  inform  himself  of  the  progress 
of  the  Revolutionary  struggle  m  America,  nor  to  express  his 
d?ep  sense  of  the  merits  and  the  talents  of  those  illustrious 
men  who  were  then  leading  their  country  to  independence  and 
renown.     The  undersigned  may  add,  that  in  ItSl,  the  courts 


02  Webster's    reply    to    hulsemanx. 

of  Russia  and  Austria  proposed  a  diplomatic  Congress  c '  thy. 
belligerent  powers,  to  wliich  the  commissioners  of  the  United 
State  should  be  admitted. 

Mr.  Hlilsemann  thinks  that  in  Mr.  Mann's  instructions, 
improper  expressions  are  introduced  in  regard  to  Russia ;  but 
the  undersigned  has  no  reason  to  suppose  that  Russia  herself 
is  of  that  opinion.  The  only  observation  made  in  those 
instructions  about  Russia  is,  that  she  "  has  chosen  to  assume 
an  attitude  of  interference,  and  her  immense  preparations  for 
invading  and  reducing  the  Hungarians  to  the  rule  of  Austria, 
from  which  they  desire  to  be  released,  gave  so  serious  a  cha- 
racter to  the  contest  as  to  awaken  the  most  painful  solicitude 
in  the  minds  of  Americans."  The  undersigned  cannot  but 
consider  the  Austrian  Cabinet  as  unnecessarily  susceptible  in 
looking  upon  language  like  this  as  a  "  hostile  demonstration." 
If  we  remember  that  it  was  addressed  by  the  Government  to 
its  own  agent,  and  has  received  publicity  only  through  a  com- 
munication from  one  Department  of  the  American  Govern- 
ment to  another,  the .  language  quoted  must  be  deemed 
moderate  and  inoffensive.  The  comity  of  nations  would 
hardly  forbid  its  being  addressed  to  the  two  Imperial  Powers 
themselves.  It  is  scarcely  necessary  for  the  undersigned  to 
say,  that  the  relations  of  the  United  States  with  Russia  have 
always  been  of  the  most  friendly  kind,  and  have  never  been 
deemed  by  either  party  to  require  any  compromise  of  their 
peculiar  views  upon  subjects  of  domestic  or  foreign  policy,  or 
the  true  origin  of  governments.  At  any  rate,  the  fact  that 
Austria  in  her  contest  with  Hungary,  had  an  intimate  and 


Webster's    repiy    to  hulsemanv.  93 

faithful  ally  iu  Russia,  cannot  alter  the  real  nature  of  the 
question  between  Austria  and  Hungary,  nor  in  any  way  affect 
the  neutral  rights  and  duties  of  the  Government  of  the 
United  States,  or  the  justifiable  sympathies  of  the  American 
people.  It  is,  indeed,  easy  to  conceive,  that  favor  toward 
struggling  Hungary  would  not  be  diminished,  but  increased, 
when  it  was  seen  that  the  arm  of  Austria  was  strengthened 
and  upheld  by  a  power  whose  assistance  threatened  to  be, 
and  which  in  the  end  proved  to  be,  overwhelmingly  destruc- 
tive of  all  her  hopes. 

Toward  the  conclusion  of  his  note,  Mr.  Hiilsemann  remarks 
that  "  if  the  Government  of  the  United  States  were  to  think 
it  proper  to  take  an  indhrect  part  in  the  political  movements 
of  Europe,  American  policy  would  be  exposed  to  acts  of 
retaliation,  and  to  certain  inconveniencies  which  would  not 
fail  to  affect  the  commerce  and  industry  of  the  two  hemi- 
spheres." As  to  this  possible  fortune,  this  h}7)othetical  retalia- 
tion, the  Govermnent  and  people  of  the  United  States  are 
quite  willing  to  take  their  chances  and  abide  their  destiny. 
Takuig  neither  a  direct  nor  an  indirect  part  in  the  domestic 
or  intestme  movements  of  Europe,  they  have  no  fear  of  events 
of  the  nature  alluded  to  by  Mr.  Hiilsemann.  It  would  be 
idle  now  to  discuss  with  Mr.  Hiilsemann  those  acts  of  retalia- 
tion which  he  imagines  may  possibly  take  place  at  some 
indefinite  time  hereafter.  Those  questions  will  be  discussed 
when  they  arise  ;  and  Mr.  Hiilsemann  and  the  Cabinet  of 
Vienna  may  rest  assured  that,  in  the  mean  time,  while  per- 
forming with,  strict  and  exact  fidelity  all  their  neutral  duties. 


94  -WEBSTER'ri      REPLY      TO      ]1ULSEMANN. 

no  tiling  will  deter  either  the  Goverument  or  the  people  of 
the  United  States  from  exerc^<;ing,  at  then-  own  discretion, 
tiie  rights  belonging  to  them  as  an  independent  nation,  and 
of  forming  and  expressing  their  own  opinions,  freely  and  at 
all  times,  upon  the  great  poUtical  events  which  may  transpire 
among  the  civilized  nations  of  the  earth.  Then.'  own  institu- 
tions stand  upon  the  broadest  principles  of  civil  liberty  ;  and 
believing  those  principles  and  the  fundamental  laws  in  which 
they  are  embodied  to  be  eminently  fevoraljle  to  the  prosperity 
of  States — to  be,  in  fact,  the  only  principles  of  government 
which  meet  the  demands  of  the  present  enlightened  age — the 
President  has  perceived,  with  great  satisfaction,  that,  in  the 
Constitution  recently  introduced  into  the  Austrian  Empire, 
many  of  these  great  prmciples  are  recognized  and  applied, 
and  he  cherishes  a  sincere  wish  that  they  may  produce  the 
game  happy  effects  throughout  his  Austrian  Majesty's  exten 
sive  dominions  that  they  have  done  in  the  United  States. 

The  undersigned  has  the  honor  to  repeat  to  Mr.  Hiilse 
mann  th'  assurance  of  his  high  consideration. 

Daniel  We  '.ster. 


THE      LAUNCH      OF      THE      SHIP.  -95 


THE  LAUNCH  OF  THE  SHIP. 

BY   H.   W.   LONGFELLOW. 

Then  the  master, 

With  a  gesture  of  command, 

Waved  his  hand  ; 

And  at  the  word 

Loud  and  sudden  there  was  heard, 

All  around  them  and  below, 

The  sound  of  hammers,  blow  on  blow, 

Knocking  away  the  shores  and  SDurs. 

And  see  !  she  stirs  ! 

She  starts — she  moves — she  seems  to  feel 

The  thrill  of  life  along  her  keel,      ^   - 

And,  spurning  with  her  foot  the  ground, 

W"ith  one  exulting,  joyous  bound. 

She  leaps  into  the  ocean's  arms  I 

And,  lo  !  from  the  assembled  crowd 

There  rose  a  shout,  prolonged  and  loud, 

That  to  the  ocean  seemed  to  say, 

"  Take  her,  0  bridegroom,  old  and  grey, 

Take  her  to  thy  protecting  arms. 

With  all  her  voutli  and  all  her  charms  1" 


96  THE      LAUNCH      OF      THE      SHIP, 

How  beautiful  she  is  !     How  fair 

She  lies  within  those  aims,  that  press 

Her  form  with  many  a  soft  caress 

Of  tenderness  and  watchful  care  ! 

Sail  forth  into  the  sea,  0  ship  ! 

Through  wind  and  wave,  right  onward  steer  I 

The  moistened  eye,  the  trembhng  lip, 

Are  not  the  signs  of  donl^t  or  fear. 

Tliou,  too,  sail  on,  O  ship  of  State, 
Sail  on,  0  Uxiox,  strong  and  great  I 
Humanity,  with  all  its  fears. 
With  all  the  hopes  of  future  years, 
Is  hanging  breathless  on  thy  fate  I 
We  know  what  ?naster  laid  thy  keel, 
What  workmen  wrought  thy  ri))5  of  steel, 
Who  made  each  mast,  and  sail,  and  rope, 
What  anvils  rang,  what  hammers  beat. 
In  what  a  forge  and  what  a  heat 
Were  shaped  the  anchors  of  thy  hope  ! 

Fear  not  each  sudden  sound  and  shock, 
'Tis  of  the  wave,  and  not  tlie  rock  ; 
'Tis  but  the  flapping  of  the  sail, 
And  not  a  rent  made  by  the  gale  ! 
In  spite  of  rock  and  tempest's  roar. 
In  spite  of  false  lights  on  the  shore, 
Sail  on,  nor  fear  to  breast  the  sea  ! 


WIDE-AWAKE.  97 

Our  hearts,  our  hopes,  are  all  with  thee. 
Our  hearts,  our  hopes,  our  prayers,  our  tears, 
Our  faith  triumphant  o'er  our  fears, 
Are  all  with  thee — ^are  all  with  thee  ! 


WIDE-AWAKE 


Wide-awake  !   wide-awake  !  fogy  and  sleeper, 

Dream  not  the  battle  of  life  ; 
Wide-awake  !  wide-awake  I  laggard  and  creeper, 

Lagging  is  losing  the  strife  ; 
Wide-awake  !  wide-awake  !  office  and  honor 

Ely  from  the  dreamer  away  ; 
Wide-awake  !  wide-awake  !  keep  your  eye  on  her — 

Fortune  is  fickle  as  gay ; 

Wide-awake  !   wide-awake  !   up  and  be  doing  : 
All  that's  worth  having  is  won  but  by  wooing. 

Wide-awake  !  wide-awake  !  while  the  game 's  gomg, 

Try  it,  and  have  a  hand  in  ; 
Wide-awake  !  wide-awake  !  while  the  wind 's  blowing, 

Look  to  your  helm,  and  you  win  ; 
Wide-awake  !  wide-awake  !  priest  and  law-maker. 

Up  !  or  be  left  ui  the  rear  ; 
Wide-awake  !  wide-awake  !  people — the  breaker 

Is  always  ahead  that 's  to  fear. 
6 


98  ROMANISM, 


Pt  0  M  A  i\  I  S  M 


BY   n.   FULLER. 


We  don't  believe  in  Romanism.  We  vgard  the  Pope  as 
an  imposter  ;  and  the  Mother  Church  as  the  mother  of  abomi- 
nations. We  don't  beheve  in  the  close  shaven,  white-cravated, 
black-coated  priesthood,  who  profess  to  "mortify  the  flesh," 
by  eschewing  matrimony  and  violating  nature.  We  don't 
believe  in  the  mummeries  of  prayers  in  unknown  tongues  ;  nor 
in  the  impious  assumption  of  the  powder  to  forgive  sins — to 
send  the  soul  of  a  murderer  to  heaven,  or  to  curse  the  soul  of 
a  good  man  down  to  the  other  place.  We  don't  believe  in 
Nunneries,  w^iere  beauty  that  was  made  to  bloom  and  beam 
on  the  world  is  immured  and  immolated,  not  to  say  prosti- 
tuted. We  don't  believe  in  "John,  Archbishop  of  Xew  York," 
any  more  than  we  believe  in  ten  thousand  other  Johns  who 
make  no  pretensions  to  extra  piety,  and  w4io  do  not  arrogate 
to  themselves  any  of  the  awful  prerogatives  of  Divine  Power. 

And  what  reasons  have  we  to  offer  for  these  daring  nega- 
tions. In  the  first  place,  w^e  find  nothing  in  the  preaching  or 
practice  of  the  meek  and  lowly  Christ  to  sanction  the  assump- 
tions, the  pomposities,  and  the  absurdities  of  Romanism.  He 
mumbled  no  prayers  which  the  multitude  could  not  under- 
stand;  but  taught  them  sunply  to  say   'Our  Father."     He 


ROMANISM.  99 

gave  no  orders  for  the  building  of  St.  Peter's  ;  but  taught  his 
disciples  in  the  streets,  in  the  cornfields,  by  the  sea-shore  ;  and 
upon  the  mountains.  He  said  nothing  about  burning  candles, 
or  counting  beads,  or  kissing  anybody's  great  toe.  Nothing 
about  the  establishment  of  Convents,  or  of  Inquisitions ;  or 
of  a  class  of  men  to  Uve  on  tithes,  and  suck  their  sustenance 
from  other  men's  labors.  He  never  called  his  followers  to 
take  up  arms  in  defence  of  then-  faith,  much  less  of  then- 
Churches,  for  they  had  none  ;  but  told  the  zealous  and  impetu- 
ous Peter  to  put  up  his  sword  ;  and  not  to  fight  with  carnal 
weapons  in  behalf  of  One  whose  kingdom  was  not  of  this 
world. 

Another  reason  for  rejecting  Romanism  is,  that  it  is  incom- 
patible with  Republicanism.  It  is  essentially  the  religion  of 
ignorance  and  superstition.  It  is  based  upon  the  fears  of 
men — and  these  fears  grow  out  of  their  vices.  What  need 
has  an  honest  man  of  any  "confessional"  outside  of  his  own 
heart,  or  his  own  closet  ?  Why  resort  to  the  impossible  inter- 
vention of  the  Priest  to  settle  an  account  between  himself  and 
his  God  ?  The  very  statement  of  the  proposition  exposes  the 
impious  absurdity  of  the  creed. 

But  do  we,  then,  believe  that  all  Romanists  are  not  Chris- 
tians ?  By  no  means.  The  memory  of  Fenelon  is  sufficient 
to  redeem  any  sect  from  utter  condemnation  ;  and  he  is  but 
one  of  hundreds  of  Roman  Cathohcs  whose  beautiful  lives 
are  embalmed  ui  history. — It  is  the  institution,  the  Church 
itself,  that  we  detest,  and  not  its  individual  members.  The 
uneducated,  ignorant  believer  in  Romanism,  may  sincerely  and 


100  ROMANISM. 

lioiiestly  cherish  his  faith.  It  is  with  him  siirply  the  ''fides 
ai/bonaria" — the  faith  of  the  coUier,  who,  when  asked  about 
his  rehgious  beUef,  repUed  that  he  beUeved  what  the  Churcli 
beheved  ;  and  when  asked  what  the  Church  beheved,  inno- 
cently said,  the  Church  l^eHeved  what  he  believed.  But  the 
more  -intelligent  Romanist  can  hardly  be  sincere  in  his  profes- 
sions.— He  knows  that  Popery  is  a  humbug ;  that  Pio  Nino  is 
no  more  than  a  man,  upon  whose  life  and  conduct  the  All- 
Seeing  God  looks  with  the  same  impartial  eye  that  he  looks 
on  all  his  creatures.  He  knows  that  there  is  no  especial 
virtue  in  the  Pope's  blessing  (not  half  so  much  as  in  his 
mother's),  and  that  his  anathemas  are  as  idle  as  the  commonest 
every-day  denunciation — not  half  as  much  to  be  feared  as  a 
hot  curse  shot  from  the  heart  of  some  ])lasted  woman.  He 
knows,  in  a  word,  that  Popes,  Cardmals  and  Bishops  are  but 
falhble  mortals,  mere  worms  of  the  dust,  whose  ashes,  a  hun- 
dred years  hence,  the  most  bigoted  papist  on  the  earth  would 
not  be  able  to  distin^ish  from  those  of  the  noblest  heretic 
whom  the  Church  has  ever  burned  for  daring  to  assert  his 
belief  iii  the  supremacy  of  man  over  all  his  institutions, — for 
acknowledging  his  allegiance  to  the  eternal  God  rather  than 
to  a  mere  creature  of  a  day  like  himself 


iUNKER      HILL.  101 


BUNKER   HILL. 

BY     RICHARD     HAYWARDE. 

It  was  a  starry  night  in  June  ;  the  air  was  soft  and  still, 
When  the  "minute-men"  from  Cambridge  came,  and  gathered 

on  the  hill : 
Beneath  us  lay  the  sleeping  town,  around  us  frowned  the  fleet, 
But  the  pulse  of  freemen,  not  of  slaves,  within  our  bosoms 

beat ; 
And  every  heart  rose  high  with  hope,  as  fearlessly  we  said, 
"We  will  be  numbered  with  the  free,  or  numbered  with  the 

dead !" 

"Brmg  out  the  line  to  mark  tlie  trench,  and  stretch  it  on  the 

sward !" 
The  trench  is  marked — the  tools  are  brought — we  utter  not 

a  word, 
But  stack  our  guns,  then  fall  to  work,  with  mattock  and  with 

spade, 
A  thousand  men  with  sinewy  arms,  and  not  a  sound  is  made  : 
So  still  were  we,  the  stars  beneath,  that  scarce  a  whisper  fell ; 
We  heard  the  red-coat's  musket  click,  and  heard  him  cry, 

"AU'sweUI" 


1 


102  BUNKER      HILL. 

And  here  and  there  a  twinkling  port,  reflected  on  the  deep, 
In  many  a  wavy  shadow  showed  their  sullen  guns  asleep. 
Sleep  on,  thou  bloody  hireling  crew  !  in  careless  slumber  lie  ; 
Tlie  trench  is  growing  broad  and  deep,  the  breast-work  broad 

and  high : 
Ko  striplings  we,  but  bear  the  arms  that  held  the  French  in 

check. 
The  drum  that  beat  at  Louisburgh,  and  thundered  in  Quebec  I 
And  thou,  whose  promise  is  deceit,  no  more  thy  word  we'll 

trust,  * 

Thou  butcher  Gage  !   thy  power  and  thee  we'll  humble  in 

the  dust ; 
Thou  and  thy  tory  minister  have  boasted  to  thy  brood, 
"The  lintels  of  the  faithful  shall  be  sprinkled  with  our  blood  1" 
But  though  these  walls  those  lintels  be,  thy  zeal  is  all  in  vain  : 
A  thousand  freemen  shall  rise  up  for  every  freeman  slain  ; 
And  when  o'er  trampled  crowns  and  thrones  they  raise  the 

mighty  shout. 
This  soil  their  Palestine  shall  be  !  their  altar  this  redoubt ! 

See  how  the  morn  is  breaking  !  the  red  is  in  the  sky  ; 

The  mist  is  creeping  from  the  stream  that  floats  in  silence  by  ; 

The  Lively's  hull  looms  through  the  fog,  and  they  our  works 

have  spied. 
For  the  ruddy  flash  and  round  shot  part  in  thunder  from  her 

side ; 
And  the  Falcon  and  the  Cerberus  make  every  bosom  thrill. 
With  gmi  and  shell,   and  drum  and  bell,  and  boatswain's 

whistle  shrill ; 


BUNKER      HILL.  103 

But  deep  and  wider  grows  the  trench,  as  spade  and  nattock 

ply, 

For  we  have  to  cope  with  fearful  odds,  and  the  time  is  draw- 
ing nigh  I 

Up  with  the  pine-tree  banner !     Oiu  gallant  Prescott  stands 
Amid  the  plungmg  shells  and  shot,  and  plants  it  with  his  hands: 
Up  with  the  shout !  for  Putnam  comes  upon  his  reeking  bay, 
With  bloody  spur  and  foamy  bit,  in  haste  to  join  the  fray : 
And  PoMEROY,  with  his  snow-white  hairs,  and  face  all  flush 

and  sweat. 
Unscathed  by  French  and  Indian,  wears  a  youthful  glory  yet. 

But  thou,  whose  soul  is  glowing  in  the  summer  of  thy  year^, 
Unvanquishable  Warren,  thou  (the  youngest  of  thy  peers) 
Wert  born,  and  bred,  and  shaped,  and  made  to  act  a  patriot's 

part. 
And  dear  to  us  thy  presence  is  as  heart's  blood  to  the  heart ! 
Well  may  ye  bark,  ye  British  wolves !   with  leaders  such  as 

they, 
Not  one  will  fail  to  follow  where  they  choose  to  lead  the  way  : 
As  once  before,  scarce  two  months  since,  we  followed  on  your 

track, 
And  with  our  rifles  marked  the  road  ye  took  in  going  ])ack. 
Ye  slew  a  sick  man  in  his  bed  ;  ye  slew,  with  hands  accursed, 
A  mother  nursing,  and  her  blood  fell  on  the  babe  she  nursed  : 
By  their  own  doors  our  kinsmen  fell  and  perished  in  the  sti'ife  ; 
But  as  we  hold  a  hireling's  cheap,  and  dear  a  freeman's  life, 


104  BUNKER      HILL 

By  Tanner  brook  and  Lincoln  bridge,  before  the  shut  of  sun, 
"We  took  the  recompense  we  claimed — a  score  for  every  one  I 

Hark  !  from  the  town  a  trumpet  I     The  barges  at  the  wharf 
Are  crowded  with  the  living  freight — and  now  they're  push- 

'  ing  off ; 
With  clash  and  glitter,  trump  and  drum,  in  all  its  bright  array, 
Behold  the  splendid  sacrifice  move  slowly  o'er  the  bay ! 
And  still  and  still  the  barges  fill,  and  still  across  the  deep. 
Like   thunder-clouds  along  the  sky,  the   hostile   transports 

sweep ; 
And  now  they're  forming  at  the  Point — and  now  the  lines 

advance : 
We  see  beneath  the  sultry  sun  their  polished  bayonets  glance  ; 
We  hear  a-uear  the  throbbing  drum,  the  bugle  challenge  ring  : 
Quick  bursts,  and  loud,  the  flashing  cloud,  and  rolls  from 

wing  to  whig. 
But  on  the  height  our  bulwark  stands,  tremendous  in  its 

gloom. 
As  sullen  as  a  tropic  sky,  and  silent  as  a  tomb. 

And  so  we  waited  till  -we  saw,  at  scarce  ten  rifles'  length. 
The  old  vindictive  Saxon  spite,  in  all  its  stubborn  strength  ; 
When  sudden,  flash  on  flash,  around  the  jagged  rampart  burst 
From  every  gun  the  vivid  light  upon  the  foe  accurst : 
Then  quailed  a  monarch's  might  before  a  free-born  people's  ire ; 
Then  drank  the  sward  the  veteran's  life,  where  swept  the  yeo- 
man's fire ; 


BUNKER      HILL.  105 

Then,  staggered  by  the  shot,  we  saw  their  berried  columns 

reel, 
And  fall,  as  falls  the  bearded  rye  beneath  the  reajDer's  steel : 
And  then  arose  a  mighty  shout  that  might  have  waked  the 

dead, 
"  Hurrah  1  they  rim  1  the  field  is  won  \"     "  Hurrah  !  the  foe 

is  fled !" 
And  every  man  hath  dropped  his  gun  to  clutch  a  neighbor's 

hand. 
As  his  heart  kept  praying  all  the  while  for  Home  and  Native 

Land. 

Thrice  on  that  day  we  stood  the  shock  of  thrice  a  thousand 

foes; 
And  thrice  that  day  within  our  lines  the  shout  of  victory 

rose! 
And  though  our  swift  fire  slackened  then,  and,  reddening  in 

the  skies. 
We  saw,  from  Charlestown's  roofs  and  walls,  the  flamy  columns 

rise ; 
Yet  while  we  had  a  cartridge  left,  we  still  maintained  the  fight, 
Nor  gained  the  foe  one  foot  of  ground  upon  that  blood-stained 

height. 

What  though  for  us  no  laurels  bloom,  nor  o'er  the  nameless 

brave 
No  sculptm'ed  trophy,  scroll,  nor  hatch,  records  a  warrior- 


grave-  ? 


5* 


106  BUNKER     HIL..  . 

What  though  the  day  to  us  was  lost  ?     Upon  that  deathless 

page 
The  everlasting  charter  stands  for  every  land  and  age  I 
For  man  hath  broke  his  felon  bonds,  and  cast  them  in  the  dust, 
And  claimed  his  heritage  divine,  and  justified  the  trust ; 
While -through  his  rifted  prison-bars  the  hues  of  freedom  pour 
O'er  every  nation,  race  and  clime,  on  every  sea  and  shore, 
Such  glories  as  the  patriarch  viewed,  when,  'mid  the  darkest 

skies, 
He  saw  above  a  ruined  world  the  Bow  of  Promise  rise. 


EST    POLICY    IN    REGARD    TO    NATURALIZATION.    101 


BEST  POLICY  m  REGARD  TO  NATURALIZATIOX. 

BY  LEWIS   C.  LEVIX. 

Each  hour  will  l3ehold  this  tide  of  foreign  emigration  rising 
higher  and  higher,  growing  stronger  and  stronger,  rushing 
bolder  and  bolder. 

The  past  furnishes  no  test  of  the  future,  and  the  futuKe 
threatens  to  transcend  all  calculations  of  this  formidable  evil. 
Yiew  this  great  subject  in  any  light,  and  it  still  flings  back 
upon  us  the  reflected  rays  of  reason,  patriotism,  and  philan- 
thropy. The  love  of  our  native  land  is  an  innate,  holy,  and 
irradicable  passion.  Distance  only  strengthens  it — time  only 
concentrates  the  feelmg  that  causes  the  tear  to  gush  from  the 
eye  of  the  emigrant,  as  old  age  peoples  by  the  vivid  memory 
the  active  present  with  the  happy  past.  In  what  land  do  we 
behold  the  foreigner,  who  denies  this  passion  of  the  heart  ? 
It  is  nature's  most  holy  decree,  nor  is  it  in  human  power  to 
repeal  the  law,  which  is  passed  on  the  mother's  breast,  and 
confirmed  by  the  father's  voice.  The  best  policy  of  the  wise 
statesman  is  to  model  his  laws  on  the  holy  ordinances  of  nature. 
If  the  heart  of  the  ahen  is  in  his  native  land — if  all  his  dearest 
thoughts  and  fondest  affections  cluster  around  the  altar  of  his 
native  gods — let  us  not  disturb  his  enjoyments  by  placing  this 
burden  of  new  affections  on  his  bosom,  through  the  moral 


108     BEST    POLICY    IN    REGARD    TO    NATURALIZATION. 

force  of  an  oath  of  allegiance,  and  the  onerous  obligation  of 
political  duties  that  are  against  his  sympathies,  and  call  on 
him  to  renounce  feeUngs  that  he  can  never  expel  from  his 
bosom.  Let  us  secure  him  the  privilege,  at  least,  of  momTiing 
for  his  native  land,  by  withholding  obligations  he  cannot  dis- 
charge, either  with  fideUty,  abihty,  or  pleasure.  Give  him 
time,  sir,  to  wean  himself  from  his  early  love.  A  long  list  of 
innumerable  duties  will  engage  all  his  attention  during  his 
poHtical  novitiate,  in  addition  to  those  comprised  in  reforming 
the  errors  and  prejudices  of  the  um'sery,  and  in  creating  and 
forming  new  opinions,  congenial  to  the  vast  field  which  lies 
spread  before  him  in  morals,  politics,  and  life.  A  due  reflec- 
tion will  convince  every  alien,  when  his  passions  are  not 
inflamed  by  the  insidious  appeals  of  senseless  demagogues, 
that  his  highest  position  is  that  of  a  moral  agent  in  the  full 
enjoyment  of  all  the  attributes  of  civil  freedom,  preparing  the 
minds  and  hearts  of  his  childi'en  to  become  faithful,  intelligent, 
and  virtuous  republicans,  born  to  a  right  that  vindicates 
itself  by  the  holy  ties  of  omnipotent  nature,  and  which,  while 
God  sanctions  and  consecrates,  no  man  can  dispute. 


THE      SCAR      OF     LEXINGTON.  109 


THE  SCAR  OF  LEX^GTON. 

BY   H.   P.    GOULD, 

With  cherub  smile,  the  prattling  boy, 

Who  on  the  veteran's  breast  redines, 
Has  thrown  aside  his  favorite  toy, 

And  round  his  tender  finger  twines 
Those  scattered  locks,  that,  with  the  flight 
Of  fourscore  years,  are  snowy  white  ; 
And,  as  a  scar  arrests  his  view. 
He  cries,  "  Grandpa,  what  wounded  you  ? 

"My  child,  'tis  five-and-fifty  years 
This  very  day,  this  very  hour, 

Since,  from  a  scene  of  blood  and  tears, 
Where  valor  fell  by  hostile  power, 

I  saw  retire  the  setting  sun 

Behind  the  hills  of  Lexington  ; 

While  pale  and  lifeless  on  the  plain 

My  brothers  lay  for  freedom  slain  ! 

"  And  ere  that  fight,  the  first  that  spoke 
In  thunder  to  our  land,  was  o'er, 
Amid  the  clouds  of  fire  and  smoke, 
I  telt  my  garments  wet  vrith  gore  ! 


110  THE      SCAR      0?      LEXINGTON. 

^s  since  that  dread  and  wild  afft-ay, 
That  trying,  dark,  eventful  day, 
From  this  calm  April  eve  so  far, 
I  wear  upon  my  cheek  the  scar. 

.    "  When  thou  to  manhood  shalt  be  grown, 
And  I  am  gone  in  dust  to  sleep, 
May  Freedom's  rights  be  still  thine  own, 

And  thou  and  thine  in  quiet  reap 
The  unblighted  product  of  the  toil 
In  which  my  blood  bedewed  the  soil ! 
And,  while  those  fruits  thou  shalt  enjoy, 
Bethink  thee  of  this  scar,  my  boy. 

"  But,  should  thy  country's  voice  be  heard 
To  bid  her  children  fly  to  arms. 
Gird  on  thy  grandsire's  trusty  sword  : 
And,  undismayed  by  war's  alarms. 
Remember,  on  the  battle  field, 
I  made  the  hand  of  God  my  shield . 
And  be  thou  spared,  like  me,  to  tell 
What  bore  thee  up,  while  others  fell  I " 


NATIVE      LAND.  Ill 


NATIVE    LAND. 

FROM  THE   NEW  TORK  MIRROR. 

How  deep  and  abiding  in  the  human  heart,  is  the  love  of 
native  land.  Civilized  or  savage,  man  feels  the  same  strong, 
unalterable  devotion  to  the  soil  and  clime  which  gave  him 
birth,  and  though  it  be  in  the  icy  north,  or  amid  the  sands  of 
the  tropics,  he  chngs  to  it  as  the  kindest  and  brightest  spot 
of  God's  earth.  No  time  nor  distance  can  efface  the  impres- 
sion, and  whether  he  be  through  life  a  dweller  in  the  place  of 
his  nativity,  or  from  infancy  an  exile  or  wanderer  in  strange 
lands,  his  heart  will  yeam  towards  and  long  for  his  native 
land. 

The  sentiment  is  universal  as  the  human  race.  Other 
lands  than  our  own  may  lure  us  with  brighter  skies  and  more 
varied  scenes,  for  a  time.  We  may  eat  the  bread  and  diink 
the  waters  or  wines  of  foreign  climes,  and  be  merry  even  in 
the  house  of  the  stranger  ;  but  when  the  novelty  of  change  is 
past,  and  the  banquet  of  excitement  palls,  the  memory  of  the 
first  home-hearth,  the  native  land,  breaks  in  upon  the  heart 
with  a  light,  mellow  and  rich  as  the  glow  of  the  setting  sum- 
mer sun, 

God  has  written  this  holy  love  in  the  heart  of  man  for  wise 
and  beautiful  purposes      '^'thout  it,  man  would  be  a  rover 


112  NATIVE      LAND. 

and  robber,  having  neither  society,  civilizaiion,  government 
nor  country.  To-day,  he  would  pitch  his  tent  and  dig  a  grave 
in  the  desert ;  to-mon*ow,  his  home  would  be  in  the  wilderness. 
Wherever  there  was  most  to  tempt  the  passions  of  his  nature, 
thither  would  he  go,  building  his  hearth  without  care  for  the 
future,  and  leaving  it  without  thought  or  regret  for  the  past. 
To  him,  history,  associations,  and  old  landmarks  would  have 
no  charm  ; — ^like  Cain,  he  would  be  an  outcast  and  wanderer 
in  the  earth. 

But  there  are  none  such  ;  every  man  feels  irresistibly  drawn 
towards  his  native  land,  wherever  he  may  be.  Towards  that 
spot  he  turns  his  eyes,  as  the  Hebrew  does  towards  the  East, 
the  Moslem  towards  his  Mecca,  and  the  Magian  towards  the 
Sun.  It  fills  his  day  visions  and  his  night  dreams — his  pray- 
ers, his  memories,  and  his  hopes.  It  makes  him  a  patriot,  a 
martyr,  a  friend,  and  a  fellow-loving,  civilized  man.  God 
bless  the  native  laud  ! 


UNION.  113 


UNION. 


Ihe  blood  that  flowed  at  Lexington,  and  crimson*:^  bright 
Champlain, 

Streams  still  along  the  Southern  Gulf,  and  by  the  lakes  of 
Mame  ; 

It  flows  in  veins  that  swell  above  Pacific's  golden  sand, 

And  throbs  in  hearts  that  love  and  grieve  by  the  dark  Atlan- 
tic's strand. 

It  binds  in  one  vast  brotherhood  the  trapper  of  the  West, 
With  men  whose  cities  glass   themselves   in   Erie's  classic 

breast ; 
And  those  to  whom  September  brings  the  fireside's  social 

hours, 
With    those   who   see   December's   brow    enwreathed    with 

gorgeous  flowers. 

From  where  Columbia  laughs  to  meet  the  smiling  western 

wave, 
To  where  Potomac  sighs  beside  the  patriot  hero's  grave  ; 
And  frouL  the  steaming  everglades  to  Huron's  lordly  flood. 
The  glory  of  a  nation's  Past  thrills  through  a  kindred  blood  I 


114  UNION. 

Say,  can  the  South  sell    out   her   share  in  Bunker's  gory 

height, 
Or  can  the  North  give  up  her  boast  of  Yorkto\\Ti's  closing 

fight? 
Can  ye  divide  with  equal  hand  a  heritage  of  graves, 
Or  rend  in  twain  the  starry  flag  that  o'er  them  proudly 

vv'aves  ? 

Can  ye  casts  lots  for  Vernon's  soil,  or  chaffer  'mid  the  gloom 
That   hangs  its  solemn  folds  about  your  common   Father's 

tomb? 
Or  could  you  meet  around  his  grave  as  fratricidal  foes, 
And  wake  your  burumg  curses  o'er  his  pure  and  calm  repose  ? 

Ye  dare  not  1  is  the  Alleghanian  thunder-toned  decree  : 
'Tis  echoed  where  Nevada  guards  the  blue  and  tranquil  sea  ; 
Where  tropic  waves  delighted  clasp  our  flowery  Southern 

shore, 
And  where,  through  frowning  mountain  gates,  Nebraska's 

wa  ;ers  roar ! 


THE     PRESERVATION      OF     THE      UNION.  115 


THE  PRESERYATIOI  OF  THE  UIIOI. 


BY   DANIEL   WEBSTER. 


I  PROFESS,  Sir,  in  my  career  hitherto,  to  have  kept  steadily 
in  view  the  prosperity  and  honor  of  the  whole  country,  and 
the  preservation  of  our  Federal  Union.  It  is  to  that  Union 
we  owe  our  safety  at  home,  and  our  consideration  and  dignity 
abroad.  It  is  to  that  Union  we  are  chiefly  indebted  for 
whatever  makes  us  most  proud  of  our  country.  That  Union 
we  reached  only  by  the  discipline  of  our  virtue,  in  the  severe 
school  of  adversity.  It  had  its  origin  in  the  necessities  of 
disordered  finance,  prostrate  commerce,  and  ruined  credit. 
Under  its  benign  influences,  these  great  interests  immediately 
awoke,  as  from  the  dead,  and  sprang  forth  with  newness  of 
life.  Every  year  of  its  duration  has  teemed  with  fresh  proofs 
of  its  utility  and  its  blessings ;  and  although  our  country 
has  stretched  out  wider  and  wider,  and  our  population  spread 
further  and  further,  they  have  not  outran  its  protection,  or  its 
benefits.  It  has  been  to  us  all  a  copious  fountain  of  national, 
social,  personal  happiness.  I  have  not  iallowed  myself.  Sir, 
to  look  beyond  the  Union,  to  see  what  might  lie  hidden  in 
the  dark  recess  behind.  I  have  not  coolly  weighed  the 
chances  of  preserving  liberty,  when  tlie  bonds  that  unite  us 
together  shall  be  broken  asunder.  I  have  not  accustomed 
myself  to  hang  over  the  precipice  of  disunion,  to  see  whether, 


IIG  THE      PRESERVATION      OF      THE      UNIQX. 

with  my  short  si^iit,  I  can  fathom  the  depth  of  the  abyss 
below ;  nor  could  I  regard  him  as  a  safe  counsellor  in  tl:  e 
affairs  of  this  Government  whose  thoughts  should  be  mainly 
bent  on  considering,  not  how  the  Union  should  be  best  pre- 
served, but  how  tolerable  might  be  the  condition  of  the 
People  when  it  shall  be  broken  up  and  destroyed. 

While  the  Union  lasts,  we  have  high,  exciting,  gratifying 
prospects  spread  out  before  us,  for  us  and  om-  children. 
Beyond  that  I  seek  not  to  penetrate  the  veil.  God  grant 
that,  in  my  day,  at  least,  that  curtaui  may  not  rise  !  G  od 
grant  that  on  my  vision  never  may  be  opened  what  lies 
behind  !  When  my  eyes  shall  be  turned  to  behold,  for  the 
last  tune,  the  Sun  in  Heaven,  may  I  not  see  Mm  shming  on 
the  broken  and  dishonored  fragments  of  a  once  glorious  Union  ; 
on  States  chssevered,  discordant,  belligerent ;  on  a  land  rent 
v.'ith  civil  feuds,  or  drenched,  it  may  be,  m  fraternal  blood  ! 
Let  their  last  feeble  and  lingering  glance,  rather,  behold  the 
gorgeous  Ensign  of  tJie  RepubHc,  now  known  and  honored 
throughout  the  earth,  still  full  high  advanced,  its  arms  and 
trophies  streaming  in  then*  original  lustre,  not  a  stripe  erased 
or  polluted,  nor  a  single  star  obscured, — bearing,  for  its  motto, 
no  such  miserable  interrogatory  as —  What  is  all  this  worth  ? 
nor  those  other  words  of  delusion  and  folly — Liberty  first  and 
Union  aft^jicards — but  everywhere,  spread  all  over  m  charac- 
ters of  living  light,  blazing  on  all  its  ample  folds,  as  tliey  float 
over  the  sea  and  over  the  land,  and  in  every  wind  under  the 
whole  Heavens,  that  other  sentiment,  dear  to  every  true 
American  heart — Liberty  and  Union,  now  and  for  ever,  one 
and  inseparable  I 


ODB  FOR  THE  FOURTH  OF  JULY        lit 


ODE  FOR  THE  FOURTH  OF  JULY,  1833. 

BY   MAKIA  JAMES. 

I  SEE  that  banner  proudly  wave — 

Yes,  proudly  waving  yet ; 
Not  a  stripe  is  torn  from  the  broad  array, 

Not  a  single  star  is  set ; 
And  the  eagle,  with  unruffled  plume, 
Is  soaring  aloft  in  the  welkin  dome. 

Not  a  leaf  is  plucked  from  the  branch  he  bears  ; 

From  his  grasp  not  an  arrow  has  flown  ; 
The  mist  that  obstructed  his  vision  is  past, 

And  the  murmur  of  discord  is  gone  : 
For  he  sees,  with  a  glance  over  mountain  and  plain, 
The  Union  unbroken,  from  Georgia  to  Maine. 

Far  southward,  in  that  sunny  clime, 

Where  bright  magnohas  bloom, 
And  the  orange  with  the  lime  tree  vies 

In  shedding  rich  perfume, 
A  sound  was  heard  like  the  ocean's  roar, 
As  its  surges  break  on  the  rocky  shore, 


118        ODE  FOR  THE  FOURTH  OF  JULY. 

Was  it  the  voice  of  the  tempest  loud, 

As  it  felled  some  lofty  tree, 
Or  a  sudden  flash  from  a  passing  storm 

Of  heaven's  artillery  ? 
But  it  died  away,  and  the  sound  of  doves 
Is  heard  again  in  the  scented  groves. 

The  links  are  all  united  still 

That  form  the  golden  chain, 
And  peace  and  plenty  smile  around, 

Throughout  the  wide  domain : 
How  feeble  is  language,  how  cold  is  the  lay, 
Compared  with  the  joy  of  this  festival  day— 

To  see  that  banner  waving  yet — 
Ay,  waving  proud  and  high — • 

No  rent  in  all  its  ample  folds. 
No  stain  of  crimson  dye : 

And  the  eagle  spreads  his  pinions  fan*, 

And  mounts  aloft  in  the  fields  of  air. 


THE      FOURTH     OF      JULY.  119 


THE    FOURTH    OF   JULY. 

Br  HON.   DAKIEL  WEBSTEB. 

This  is  that  day  of  the  year  which  announced  to  mankind 
the  great  fact  of  American  Independence  !  This  fresh  and 
brilliant  morning  blesses  our  vision  with  another  beholding  of 
the  bu'th-day  of  our  nation  :  and  we  see  that  nation,  of  recent 
origin,  now  among  the  most  considerable  and  powerful,  and 
spreading  over  the  continent  from  sea  to  sea. 

"  Westward  the  course  of  empire  takes  its  way  ; 
The  four  first  acts  already  past, 
A  fifth  shall  close  the  drama  with  the  day : 
Time's  noblest  offering  is  the  last." 

On  the  day  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  our  illus- 
trious fathers  performed  the  first  scene  in  the  last  great  act 
of  this  drama  :  one,  in  real  importance,  infinitely  exceeding 
that  for  which  the  great  English  poet  invoked 

"  A  muse  of  fire, 
A  kingdom  for  a  stage,  princes  to  act, 
And  monarchs  to  behold  the  swelling  scene." 

The  Muse  inspuing  our  fathers  was  the  Genius  of  Liberty,  all 
on  fire  with  a  sense  of  oppression,  and  a  resolution  to  throw 
it  off  ;  the  whole  world  was  the  stage,  and  higher  characters 
than  princes  trod  it ;  and,  instead  of  monarch,  countries,  and 
nations,  and  th^.  age,  belield  the  sweUing  scene.     How  well 


120  THE      FOURTH      OV      JI'LY. 

tlic  cliaracters  were  cast,  and  how  well  each  acted  his  part, 
and  what  emotions  the  whole  performance  excited,  let  history, 
now  and  hereafter,  tell. 

On  the  Fourth  of  July,  1*7*16,  the  representatives  of  the 
United  States  of  America,  in  Congress  assembled,  declared 
that  these  United  Colonies  are,  and  of  right  ought  to  be,  free 
and  independent  States.  This  declaration,  made  by  most 
patriotic  and  resolute  men,  trusting  in  the  justice  of  their 
cause,  and  the  protection  of  Heaven, — and  yet  made  not 
without  deep  solicitude  and  anxiety,- — has  now  stood  for 
seventy-five  years,  and  still  stands.  It  was  sealed  in  blood 
It  has  met  dangers,  and  overcome  them  ;  it  has  had  enemies, 
and  conquered  them  ;  it  has  had  detractors,  and  abashed 
them  all  ;  it  has  had  doubting  ft'iends,  but  it  has  cleared  all 
the  doubts  away ;  and  now,  to-day,  raising  its  august  form 
higher  than  the  clouds,  twenty  millions  of  people  contemplate 
it  with  hallowed  love,  and  the  world  beholds  it,  and  the 
consequences  which  have  followed  from  it,  with  profound 
admiration. 

This  aniversary  animates,  and  gladdens,  and  unites,  all 
American  hearts.  On  other  days  of  the  year  we  may  be 
party  men,  indulging  in  controversies  more  or  less  important 
to  the  public  good  ;  we  may  have  likes  and  dislikes,  and  we 
may  maintain  our  political  differences,  often  with  warmth,  and 
sometimes  with  angry  feelings.  But  to-day  we  are  Americans 
all  ;  and  all  nothing  but  Americans.  As  the  great  luminary 
over  our  heads,  dissipating  mists  and  fogs,  now  cheers  the 
whole  hemisphere,  so  do  the  associations  connected  with  this 


THE      FOURTH     OF     JUL^  121 

day  disperse  all  cloudy  and  sullen  weather  in  the  minds  and 
feelings  of  true  Americans.  Every  man's-  heart  swells  withm 
him,  every  man's  port  and  bearing  becomes  somewhat  more 
proud  and  lofty,  as  he  remembers  that  seventy-five  years  have 
rolled  away,  and  that  the  great  inheritance  of  hberty  is  still 
liis  ;  his,  undiminished  and  unimpaired  ;  his,  in  all  its  ori^mal 
glory  ;  his  to  enjoy,  his  to  protect,  and  his  to  transmit  to 
future  generations. 


122  SEVENTY-SIX. 


SEYE^^TY-SIX 


BY  Vr.   C.   BRYANT. 


What  heroes  from  tlie  woodland  sprung 

When,  throag-h  the  fresh  awakened  land, 
The  thrilling  cry  of  freedom  rung. 
And  to  the  work  of  warfare  strung 
The  yeoman's  iron  hand  ! 

Hills  flung  tlie  cry  to  liills  around, 
And  ocean  mart  replied  to  mart, 
And  streams,  whose  springs  were  yet  unfound. 
Pealed  far  away  the  startling  sound 
Into  the  forest's  heart. 

Then  marched  the  brave  from  rocky  steejj, 

From  mountain  river  swift  and  cold  ; 
The  borders  of  the  stormy  deep. 
The  vales  where  gathered  waters  sleep. 
Sent  np  the  strong  and  bold, — 

As  if  the  very  earth  agam 

Grrev,^  quick  with  God's  creating  breath, 
And.  from  tlie  sods  of  grove  and  glen. 


SEVENTY- SIX.  123 

Rose  ranks  of  lion-hearted  men 
To  battle  to  the  death, 

Already  had  the  strife  begun  ; 

Already  blood  on  Concord's  plain 
A  long  the  springing  grass  had  run, 
And  blood  had  flowed  at  Lexington, 

Like  brooks  of  April  rain. 

That  death-st^in  on  the  vernal  sward 

Hallowed  to  freedom  all  the  shore  ; 
In  fragments  fell  the  yoke  abhorred — 
The  footstep  of  a  foreign  lord 

Profaned  the  soil  no  more. 


1'24  THE      YOUTH      OF      WASHINGTON, 


THE    YOUTH   OF    WASHINGTON. 


BY  E.   EVERETT. 


Just  as  Washington  was  passing  from  boyhood  to  youth, 
the  enterprise  and  capital  of  Virginia  were  seeking  a  new 
field  for  exercise  and  investment,  in  the  unoccupied  public 
domain  beyond  the  mountains.  The  business  of  a  surveyor 
immediately  became  one  of  great  importance  and  trust,  for  no 
sm'veys  were  executed  by  the  government.  To  this  occupa- 
tion the  youthful  Washington,  not  yet  sixteen  years  of  age, 
and  well  furnished  with  the  requisite  mathematical  knowledge, 
zealously  devoted  himself.  Some  of  his  family  connections 
possessed  titles  to  large  portions  of  public  land,  which  he  was 
employed  with  them  in  surveying. 

Thus,  at  a  period  of  life  when,  in  a  more  advanced  stage 
of  society,  the  intelligent  youth  is  occupied  in  the  elementary 
studies  of  the  schools  and  colleges,  Washington  was  carrying 
the  surveyor's  chain  through  the  fertile  valleys  of  the  Blue 
Ridge  and  the  Alleghany  Mountains ;  passing  days  and 
weeks  in  the  wilderness,  beneath  the  shadows  of  eternal  for- 
ests ;  listening  to  the  voice  of  the  waterfalls,  w^hich  man's  art 
had  not  yet  set  to  the  healthful  music  of  the  saw-mill  or  the 
trip-hammer  ;  reposing  from  the  labors  of  the  day  on  a  bear- 
skin, with  his  feet  to  the  blazing  logs  of  a  camp-fire ;  and 


THE      YOUTH      OF     WASHINGTON.  125 

sometimes  startled  from  the  deep  slumbers  of  careless,  hard- 
Avorking  yoiiih,  by  the  alarm  of  the  Indian  war-whoop. 

This  was  the  gymnastic  school  in  which  Washington  was 
brought  up  ;  in  which  his  quick  glance  was  formed,  destined 
to  range  hereafter  across  the  battle-field,  through  clouds  of 
smoke  and  bristling  rows  of  bayonets ;  the  school  in  which 
his  senses,  weaned  from  the  taste  for  those  detestable  indul- 
gences, miscalled  pleasures,  in  which  the  flower  of  adolescence 
so  often  languishes  and  pines  away,  were  early  braced  up  to 
the  sinewy  manhood  which  becomes  the 

"  Lord  of  the  lion  heart  and  eagle  eye.'* 

There  is  preserved  among  the  papers  of  Washington  a 
letter,  written  to  a  fi-iend  wliile  he  was  engaged  on  his  first 
surveymg  tour,  and  when  he  was,  consequently,  but  sixteen 
years  of  age.  I  quote  a  sentence  fi'om  it,  in  spite  of  the 
homeliness  of  the  details,  for  which  I  like  it  the  better,  and 
because  I  wish  to  set  before  you,  not  an  ideal  hero,  wrapped 
in  cloudy  generahties  and  a  mist  of  vague  panegyric,  but  the 
real,  identical  man,  with  all  the  pecuharities  of  his  life  and 
occupation. 

"Your  letter,"  says  he,  "gave  me  the  more  pleasure,  as  I 
received  it  among  barbarians  and  an  uncouth  set  of  people. 
Since  you  received  my  letter  of  October  last,  I  have  not  slept 
above  three  or  four  nights  in  a  bed  ;  but,  after  walking  a  good 
deal  all  the  day,  I  have  lain  down  before  the  fire,  upon  a  httle 
hay,  straw,  fodder,  or  a  bear-skin — whichever  was  to  be  had — 
with  man  wife,  and  childi'eu,  like  dogs  and  cats  ;  and  happy 


126  THE      YOUTH      OF      WASHINGTON'. 

is  he  who  gets  the  berth  nearest  the  fire.  Nothing  would 
make  it  pass  off  tolerably  but  a  good  reward.  A  doubloon 
is  my  constant  gain,  every  day  that  the  weather  will  permit 
my  going  out,  and  sometimes  six  pistoles." 

If  there  is  an  individual  in  the  morning  of  life  who  has  not 
yet  made  his  choice  between  the  flowery  path  of  indulgence 
and  the  rough  ascent  of  honest  industry — if  there  is  one  who 
is  ashamed  to  get  his  living  by  any  branch  of  honest  labor — 
let  him  reflect  that  the  youth  who  was  caiTying  the  theodo- 
lite and  surveyor's  chain  through  the  mountain  passes  of  the 
AUeghanies,  in  the  month  of  March,  sleeping  on  a  bmidle  of 
hay  before  the  fire,  in  a  settler's  log-cabin,  and  not  ashamed 
to  boast  that  he  did  it  for  his  doubloon  a  day,  is  George 
Washington  ;  that  the  life  he  led  trained  him  up  to  command 
the  armies  of  United  America ;  that  the  money  he  earned 
was  the  basis  of  that  fortune  which  enabled  him  afterwards 
to  bestow  his  services,  without  reward,  on  a  bleeding  and 
impoverished  country. 

For  three  years  was  the  young  Washington  employed,  the 
greater  part  of  the  time,  and  whenever  the  season  w^ould  per- 
mit, in  this  laborious  and  healthful  occupation  ;  and  I  know 
not  if  it  would  be  deemed  unbecoming,  were  a  thoughtful 
student  of  our  history  to  say  that  he  could  almost  hear  the 
voice  of  Providence,  in  the  language  of  Milton,  amiounce  its 
high  piu*pose, 

"  To  exercise  him  in  the  wilderness ; 
There  shall  he  first  lay  down  the  rudiments 
Of  his  great  warfare,  ere  I  send  him  forth 
To  conquer'" 


COLUMBIA.  12t 


COLUMBIA 


BY   T.   DWIGHT. 


Columbia,  Columbia,  to  glory  arise, 

The  queen  of  the  world,  and  the  child  of  the  skies  ; 

Thy  genius  commands  thee  ;  mth  rapture  behold, 

While  ages  on  ages  thy  splendors  unfold.  . 

Thy  reign  is  the  last  and  the  noblest  of  time  ; 

Most  fruitful  thy  soil,  most  invitmg  thy  -clime  ; 

Let  the  crimes  of  the  East  ne'er  encrimson  thy  name  ; 

Be  freedom,  and  science,  and  virtue  thy  fame. 

To  conquest  and  slaughter  let  Europe  aspire  ; 
Whelm  nations  in  blood  and  wrap  cities  in  fire  ; 
Thy  heroes  the  rights  of  mankind  shall  defend, 
And  triumph  pursue  them,  and  glory  attend 
A  world  is  thy  realm  ;  for  a  world  be  thy  laws, 
Enlarged  as  thine  empii*e,  and  just  as  thy  cause  ; 
On  Freedom's  broad  basis  that  empire  shall  rise. 
Extend  with  the  main,  and  dissolve  with  the  skies. 

Fair  Science  her  gates  to  thy  sons  shall  unbar, 

And  the  East  see  thy  morn  hide  the  beams  of  her  star  ; 

New  bards  and  new  sages,  unrivall'd,  shall  soar 

To  fame,  unextinguish'd  when  time  is  no  more  ; 

To  thee,  the  last  refuge  of  virtue  design'd, 

Shall  fly  from  all  nations  the  best  of  mankind  ; 


128  COLUMBIA. 

Hero,  grateful,  to  Heaven  with  transport  shall  bring 
Their  incense,  more  fragrant  than  odors  of  spring;. 

Nor  less  shall  thy  fair  ones  to  glory  ascend, 
And  genius  and  beauty  in  harmony  blend  ; 
The  graces  of  form  shall  awake  pure  desh-e, 
Arid  the  charms  of  the  soul  ever  cherish  the  fire  : 
Their  sweetness  unmingled,  their  manners  refined, 
And  virtue's  bright  image  enstamp'd  on  the  mind, 
With  peace  and  soft  rapture  shall  teach  life  to  glow, 
And  light  up  a  smile  in  the  aspect  of  woe. 

Thy  fleets  to  all  regions  thy  power  shall  display, 

The  nations  admire,  and  the  ocean  obey  ; 

Each  shore  to  thy  glory  its  tribute  unfold, 

And  the  East  and  the  South  yield  tlieh'  spices  and  gold  ; 

As  the  day-spring  unbounded,  thy  splendor  shall  flow, 

And  earth's  little  kingdoms  before  thee  shall  bow, 

While  the  ensigns  of  union,  in  triumph  nnfurl'd, 

Hush  the  tumult  of  war,  and  give  peace  to  the  world. 

Thus,  as  down  a  lone  valley,  with  cedars  o'ei^spread, 
From  war's  dread  confusion  I  pensively  stray'd — 
The  gloom  from  the  face  of  fair  heaven  retired, 
The  winds  ceased  to  murmur,  the  thunders  expired  ; 
Perfumes  as  of  Eden,  flow'd  sweetly  along, 
And  a  voice,  as  of  angels,  enchantingly  sung  : 
"  Columbia,  Columbia,  to  glory  arise. 
The  queen  of  the  world,  and  the  child  of  the  skies." 


THE      DEATH      OF      WASHINGTON.  129 


THE   DEATH   OF    WASHU^GTON. 

BY   JOHN  M.    MASON. 

It  must  ever  be  difficult  to  compare  the  merits  of  Wash- 
ington's characters,  because  he  always  appeared  greatest  in 
that  which  he  last  sustained.  Yet  if  there  is  a  preference, 
it  must  be  assigned  to  the  lieutenant-general  of  the  armies  of 
America.  Not  because  the  duties  of  that  station  were  more 
arduous  than  those  which  he  had  often  performed,  but  because 
it  more  fully  displayed  his  magnanimity.  While  others  become 
great  by  elevation,  Washington  becomes  greater  by  condescen- 
sion. Matchless  patriot !  to  stoop,  on  public  motives,  to  an 
inferior  appointment,  after  possessing  and  dignifying  the 
highest  offices  !  Thrice  favored  country,  which  boasts  of 
such  a  citizen  !  We  gaze  with  astonishment :  we  exult  that 
we  are  Americans.  We  augur  everything  great,  and  good, 
and  happy.  But  whence  this  sudden  horror  ?  What  means 
that  cry  of  agony  ?  Oh  1  'tis  the  shriek  of  America  !  The 
fairy  vision  is  fled  :  Washington  is — no  more  ! — 

"  How  are  the  mighty  fallen,  and  the  weapons  of  war  perished !" 

Daughters  of  America,  who  erst  prepared  the  festal  bower 
and  the  laurel  wreath,  plant  now  the  cypress  grove,  and 
water  it  with  tears. 


130  THE      DEATH      OF      WASHIXGT0>7. 

"  How  are  the  mighty  fallen,  and  the  ^Yeal)ons  of  war  perished  !" 

The  death  of  Washington,  Americans,  has  revealed  the 
extent  of  our  loss.  It  has  given  us  the  final  proof  that  we 
never  mistook  him.  Take  his  affecting  testament,  and  read 
the  secrets  of  his  soul.  Read  all  the  power  of  domestic  vir- 
tue. Read  his  strong  love  of  letters  and  of  liberty.  Read 
his  fidelity  to  republican  principle,  and  his  jealousy  of  national 
character. 

In  his  acts,  Americans,  you  have  seen  the  man.  In  the 
complicated  excellence  of  character,  he  stands  alone.  Let 
no  future  Plutarch  attempt  the  iniquity  of  parallel.  Let  no 
soldier  of  fortune,  let  no  usurping  conqueror,  let  not  Alexan- 
der or  Caesar,  let  not  Cromwell  or  Bonaparte,  let  none  among 
the  dead  or  the  living,  appear  in  the  same  picture  with  Wash- 
ington :  or  let  them  appear  as  the  shade  to  kis  light. 


MONODY    ON    THE    DEATH    OF    WASHINGTON,  131 


MONODY  0^  THE  DEATH  OF  WASHINGTON. 


BY  RICHARD  ALSOP. 


Before  the  splendors  of  thy  high  renown, 
How  fade  the  glow-worm  lustres  of  a  crown  I 
How  sink,  diminish'd,  in  that  radiance  lost, 
The  glare  of  conquest,  and  of  power  the  boast  ! 
Let  Greece  her  Alexander's  deeds  proclaim, 
Or  Caesar's  triumphs  gild  the  Roman  name  ; 
Stript  of  the  dazzling  glare  around  them  cast, 
Shrinks  at  their  crimes  humanity  aghast ; 
With  equal  claim  to  honor's  glorious  meed, 
See  Attila  his  course  of  havoc  lead  ; 
O'er  Asia's  realm,  in  one  vast  ruin  hurl'd, 
See  furious  Zinges'  bloody  flag  unfurl'd. 
On  base  far  different  from  the  conqueror's  claim, 
Rests  the  unsullied  column  of  thy  fame  ; 
His  on  the  graves  of  millions  proudly  based, 
With  blood  cemented  and  with  tears  defaced  ; 
Thine  on  a  nation's  welfare  fixed  sublime, 
By  freedom  strengthen'd,  and  revered  by  time  ; 
He,  as  the  comet  whose  portentous  light 
Spreads  baleful  splendor  o'er  the  glooms  of  night, 


132  MONODY    ON    THE    DEATH    CF    WASHINGTON 

With  dire  amazement  chills  the  startled  breast, 

While  storms  and  earthquakes  dread  its  course  attest; 

And  nature  trembles,  lest  in  chaos  hurl'd 

Should  sink  the  tottering  fragment  of  the  world  ; 

Tliine,  like  the  sun,  whose  kind,  propitious  ray, 

Opes  the  glad  morn,  and  lights  the  fields  of  day, 

Dispels  the  wuitry  storm,  the  chilUng  rain. 

With  rich  abundance  clothes  the  fertile  plain, 

Gives  all  creation  to  rejoice  around, 

And  light  and  Ufe  extends,  o'er  nature's  utmost  bound 

Though  shone  thy  life  a  model  bright  of  praise, 

Xot  less  the  example  bright  thy  death  portrays  ; 

When,  plunged  in  deepest  woe  around  thy  bed, 

Each  eye  was  fix'd,  despairing  sunk  each  head, 

While  nature  struggled  with  extremest  pain. 

And  scarce  could  life's  last  lingering  powers  retain  ; 

In  that  dread  moment,  awfully  serene, 

No  trace  of  suffering  marked  thy  placid  mien, 

No  groan,  no  murmuring  plaint  escaped  thy  tongue  ; 

Xo  longing  shadows  o'er  thy  brow  w^re  hung  ; 

But,  calm  in  Christian  hope,  undamp'd  with  fear, 

Thou  sawst  the  high  reward  of  virtue  near. 

On  that  bright  meed,  m  surest  trust  reposed, 

As  thy  firm  hand  thine  eyes  expiring  closed, 

Pleased,  to  the  \W11  of  Heaven  resign'd  thy  breath, 

And  smiled,  as  nature's  struggles  closed  in  death. 


THE     MAYFLOWER.  133 


THE     MAYFLOWER 


BY   E.   EVERETT. 


Methinks  I  see  it  now,  that  one  solitary,  adventurous 
vessel,  the  Mayflower  of  a  forlorn  hope,  freighted  with  the 
prospects  of  a  future  state,  and  bound  across  the  unknown 
sea.  I  behold  it  pursuing,  with  a  thousand  misgivings,  the 
uncertain,  the  tedious  voyage.  Suns  rise  and  set,  and  weeks 
and  months  pass,  and  winter  surprises  them  on  the  deep,  but 
brings  them  not  the  sight  of  the  mshed-for  shore.  I  see 
them  now,  scantily  supplied  with  provisions,  crowded  almost 
to  suffocation  in  their  ill-stored  prison,  delayed  by  calms,  pur- 
suing a  circuitous  route  ;  and  now,  di'iven  in  fury  before  the 
raging  tempest,  in  their  scarcely  sea-worthy  vessel.  The 
awful  voice  of  the  storm  howls  through  the  rigging.  The 
laboring  masts  seem  straining  from  their  base  ;  the  dismal 
sound  of  the  pumps  is  heard  ;  the  ship  leaps,  as  it  were, 
madly  from  billow  to  billow  ;  the  ocean  breaks,  and  settles 
with  ingulfing  floods  over  the  floating  deck,  and  beats  with 
deadening  weight  against  the  staggering  vessel. 

I  see  them  escaped  from  these  perils,  pursuing  their  all  but 
desperate  undertaking,  and  landed  at  last,  after  a  five  months' 
passage,    on   the    ice-clad    rocks    of   Plymouth,    weak    and 


134  THE      MAYFLOWER. 

exhausted  from  the  voyage,  poorly  armed,  scantily  pro- 
visioned, depending  on  the  charity  of  their  ship-master  for  a 
draught  of  beer  on  board,  drinking  nothing  but  water  on  shore, 
without  shelter,  without  means,  surrounded  by  hostile  tribes. 
Shut  now  the  volume  of  history,  and  tell  me,  on  any  prin- 
ciple of  human  probability,  what  shall  be  the  fate  of  this 
handful  of  adventurers  ?  Tell  me,  man  of  military  science, 
in  how"  many  months  they  were  all  swept  off  by  the  thirty 
savage  tribes  enumerated  within  the  boundaries  of  Xew  Eng- 
land ?  Tell  me,  politician,  how  long  did  this  shadow  of  a 
colony,  on  which  your  conventions  and  treaties  had  not 
smiled,  languish  on  the  distant  coast  ?  Student  of  history, 
compare  for  me  the  baffled  projects,  the  deserted  settlements, 
the  abandoned  adventures  of  other  times,  and  find  the  paral- 
lel of  this.  Was  it  the  winter  storm,  beating  upon  the 
houseless  head  of  women  and  children  ?  was  it  hard  labor 
and  spare  meals?  was  it  d's-.ar^e  ?  was  it  the  tomahawk  ?  was 
it  the  deep  malady  of  the  blighted  hope,  a  rumed  enterprise, 
and  a  broken  heart,  aching  in  its  last  moments  at  the  recol- 
lections of  the  loved  and  left,  beyond  the  sea  ?  was  it  some 
or  all  of  them  united  that  hurried  this  forsaken  company  to 
their  melancholy  fate  ?  And  is  it  possible,  that  neither  of 
these  causes,  that  all  combined,  were  able  to  blast  this  bud 
of  hope  !  Is  it  possible,  that  from  a  beginning  so  feeble,  so 
frail,  so  w^orthy,  not  so  much  of  admiration  as  of  pitv, 
there  has  gone  forth  a  progress  so  steady,  a  growth  so  won- 
derful, a  reality  so  important,  a  promise  yet  to  be  fulfilled  so 
i;"lorious  I 


THE      PILGRIM      FATHERS.  135 


THE    PILGRIM   FATHERS. 

BY  JOHN  PIERPONT. 

The  Pilgrim  Fathers, — where  are  they  ? 

The  waves  that  brought  them  o'er 
Still  roll  in  the  bay,  and  throw  their  spray 

As  they  break  along  the  shore  : 
Still  roll  in  the  bay,  as  they  roll'd  that  day 

When  the  Mayflower  moor'd  below, 
When  the  sea  around  was  black  with  storms, 

And  white  the  shore  with  snow. 
The  mists,  that  ^vrapp'd  the  Pilgrim's  sleep. 

Still  brood  upon  the  tide  ; 
And  his  rocks  yet  keep  their  watch  by  the  deep, 

To  stay  its  waves  of  pride. 
But  the  snow-white  sail,  that  he  gave  to  the  gale 

When  the  heavens  look'd  dark  is  gone  ; — 
As  an  angel's  wing,  through  an  opening  cloud. 

Is  seen,  and  then  withdrawn. 
The  Pilgrim  exile, — sainted  name  ' 

The  hill,  whose  icy  brow 
Rejoiced,  when  he  came,  in  the  morning's  flame, 

In  the  morning's  flame  burns  now. 
And  the  nioou's  cold  light,  as  jt  hiy  that  uiglit 


136  THE      PILGRIM      FATHERS. 

On  the  hill-side  and  the  sea, 
Still  lies  where  he  laid  his  houseless  head  ; — 
But  the  Pilgrim, — where  is  he  ? 
The  Pilgrim  Fathers  are  at  rest ; 
When  summer's  throned  on  high, 
-  And  the  world's  warm  breast  is  in  verdure  dress'd, 
Go,  stand  on  the  hill  where  they  lie. 
The  earliest  ray  of  the  golden  day 
On  that  hallow'd  spot  is  cast ; 
And  the  evening  sun,  as  it  leaves  the  world, 
Looks  kindly  on  that  spot  last. 
The  Pilgrim  spirit  has  not  fled  ; 
It  walks  in  noon's  broad  light ; 
And  it  watches  the  bed  of  the  glorious  dead, 

With  their  holy  stars,  by  night. 
[t  watches  the  bed  of  the  brave  who  have  bled, 

And  shall  guard  this  ice-bound  shore, 
Till  the  waves  of  the  bay,  where  the  Mayflower  lay, 
Shall  foam  and  freeze  no  more. 


THE      MEMORY      OF      OUR      FATHERS.  13t 


THE  MEMORY  OF  OUR  FATHERS. 


BY  DR.   BEECHER. 


We  are  called  upon  to  cherish  with  high  veneration  and 
grateful  recollections,  the  memory  of  our  fathers.  Both  the 
ties  of  nature  and  the  dictates  of  policy,  demand  this.  And 
surely,  no  nation  had  ever  less  occasion  to  be  ashamed  of  its 
ancestry,  or  more  occasion  for  gratulation  in  that  respect  ; 
for,  while  most  nations  trace  their  origui  to  barbarians,  the 
foundations  of  our  nation  were  laid  by  civilized  men — by  Chris- 
tians. Many  of  them  were  men  of  distinguished  families,  of 
powerful  talents,  of  great  learning,  and  of  pre-eminent  wisdom, 
of  decision  of  character,  and  of  most  inflexible  integrity.  And 
yet,  not  unfrequently,  they  have  been  treated  as  if  they  had  no 
virtues  ;  while  their  sins  and  follies  have  been  sedulously 
immortalized  in  satirical  anecdote. 

The  influence  of  such  treatment  of  our  fathers  is  too  mani- 
fest. It  creates,  and  lets  loose  upon  their  institutions,  the 
vandal  spirit  of  innovation  and  overthrow  ;  for,  after  the  mem- 
ory of  our  fathers  shall  have  been  rendered  contemptible,  who 
will  appreciate  and  sustain  their  institutions  ?  The  memory 
of  OUT  fathers^  should  be  the  watchword  of  hberty  throughout 
the  land  :  for,  imperfect  as  they  were,  the  world  before  had 
not  seen  their  like,  nor  will  it  soon,  we  fear,  behold  their  like 


138  THE      MEMORY      OF      OUR      FATHERS. 

again.  Such  models  of  moral  excellence,  such  apostles  of 
civil  and  religious  liberty,  such  shades  of  the  illustrious  dead, 
lookmg  down  upon  then-  descendants  with  approbation  or 
reproof,  according  as  they  follow  or  depart  from  the  good 
way,  constitute  d,  censorship  mferior  only  to  the  eye  of  God  ; 
and  -to  ridicule  them  is  national  suicide. 

The  doctrines  of  our  fathers  have  been  represented  as 
gloomy,  superstitious,  severe,  in'ational,  and  of  a  licentious 
tendency.  But  when  other  systems  shall  have  produced  a 
piety  as  devoted,  a  morality  as  pure,  a  patriotism  as  dismte- 
rested,  and  a  state  of  society  as  happy,  as  have  prevailed 
where  then*  doctrines  have  been  most  prevalent,  it  may  be  in 
season  to  seek  an  answer  to  tliis  ol)jection. 

The  persecutions  instituted  by  om*  fathers,  have  been  the 
occasion  of  ceaseless  obloquy  upon  their  fair  fame.  And 
truly,  it  was  a  fault  of  no  ordinary  magnitude,  that  sometimes 
they  did  persecute.  But  let  him  whose  ancestors  were  not 
ten  times  more  guilty  cast  the  first  stone,  and  the  ashes  of 
our  fathers  will  no  more  be  disturbed.  Theirs  was  the  fault 
of  the,  age  and  it  will  be  easy  to  show,  that  no  class  of  men 
had,  at  that  time,  approximated  so  nearly  to  just  apprehen- 
sions of  religious  liberty  ;  and  that  it  is  to  them  that  the  world 
is  now  indebted,  for  the  more  just  and  definite  views  which 
now  prevail. 

The  superstition  and  bigotry  of  our  fathers,  are  themes 
on  which  some  of  their  descendants,  themselves  far  enough 
from  superstition  if  not  from  bigotiy,  have  delighted  to 
dwell. 


THE      MEMORY      OF      OUR      FATHERS.  139 

But  when  we  look  abroad,  and  behold  the  condition  of  the 
world,  compared  with  the  condition  of  New  England,  we  may 
justly  exclaim,  "  Would  to  God  that  the  ancestors  of  all  the 
nations  had  been  not  only  almost,  but  altogether,  such  bigots 
as  our  fathers  were." 


140  THE      UNION      AND      ST  S      GOVERNMENT. 


THE  UNION  AND  ITS  GOVERNMENT. 

BY   W.    G.   SIMMS. 

Government 
We  hold  to  be  the  creature  of  our  need, 
Having  no  power  but  where  necessity 
Still,  under  guidance  of  the  Charter,  gives  it. 
Our  taxes  raised  to  meet  our  exigence, 
And  not  for  waste  or  favorites.     Our  People 
Left  free  to  share  the  commerce  of  the  world, 
Without  one  needless  barrier  on  their  prows. 
Om*  industry  at  liberty  for  venture, 
Neither  abridged  nor  pampered  :  and  no  calling 
Preferred  before  another,  to  the  ruin 
Or  wrong  of  either.     These,  Sir,  are  my  doctrines — 
They  are  the  only  doctrines  which  shall  keep  us 
From  anarchy,  and  that  worst  peril  yet. 
That  threatens  to  dissever,  in  the  tempest, 
That  maiTied  harmony  of  hope  with  power 
That  keeps  our  starry  Union  o'er  the  storm, 
And,  in  the  sacred  bond  that  links  our  fortunes, 
Makes  us  defy  its  thunders  !     Thus  in  one,  . 
The  foreign  despot  threatens  us  in  vam. 
Gui^ot  and  Palmerston  may  fret  to  see  us 


THE      UNION      AND      ITS      GOVERNMENT.  141 

Grasping  the  empires  which  they  vainly  covet, 
And  stretching  forth  our  trident  o'er  the  seas, 
In  rivalry  with  Britain.     They  may  confine, 
But  cannot  chain  us.     Balances  of  power, 
Framed  by  con'upt  and  cunning  monarchists, 
Weigh  none  of  our  possessions  ;  and  the  seasons 
That  mark  our  mighty  progress  East  and  West, 
Show  Europe's  struggling  millions  fondly  seeking 
The  better  shores  and  shelters  that  are  ours. 


142  THE      PURITANS. 


THE    PURITANS. 


BY   E.   P.   WHIPPLE. 


The  Puritans — there  is  a  charm  in  that  word  wliich  ^nlI 
never  be  lost  on  a  New  England  ear.  It  is  closely  associated 
with  all  that  is  great  in  Xew  England  history.  It  is  hal- 
lowed by  a  thousand  memories  of  obstacles  overthrown,  of 
dangers  nobly  braved,  of  sufferings  unshrmkingly  borne,  in  the 
service  of  freedom  and  religion.  It  kindles  at  once  the  pride 
of  ancestry,  and  inspires  the  deepest  feelings  of  national 
veneration.  It  points  to  examples  of  valor  in  all  its  modes 
of  manifestation, — in  the  hall  of  debate,  on  the  field  of 
battle,  before  the  tribunal  of  power,  at  the  martyr's  stake. 
It  is  a  name  which  will  never  die  out  of  New  England 
hearts.  Wherever  vu'tue  resists  temptation,  wherever  men 
meet  death  for  religion's  sake,  wherever  the  gilded  baseness 
of  the  world  stands  abashed  before  conscientious  principles, 
there  will  be  the  spirit  of  the  Puritans.  They  have  left 
deep  and  broad  marks  of  their  influence  on  human  society. 
Their  children,  in  all  times,  will  rise  up  and  call  them 
blessed.  A  thousand  witnesses  of  their  courage,  their  indus- 
try, then*  sagacity,  their  invincible  perseverance  in  well- 
doing, their  love  of  free  institutions,  their  respect  for  justice. 


THE      PURITANS,  143 

their  hatred  of  wrong,  are  all  around  us,  and  bear  grateful 
evidence  daily  to  then*  memory.  We  cannot  forget  them, 
even  if  we  had  sufficient  baseness  to  wish  it.  Every  spot 
of  New  England  earth  has  a  story  to  tell  of  them  ;  every 
cherished  mstitution  of  New  England  society  bears  the  print 
of  then*  mmds.  The  strongest  element  of  New  England 
character  has  been  transmitted  with  their  blood.  So  intense 
is  om-  sense  of  affihation  with  their  nature,  that  we  speak  of 
them  universally  as  our  "  fathers."  And  though  their  fame 
everywhere  else  were  weighed  down  with  calumny  and 
hatred,  though  the  principles  for  which  they  contended,  and 
the  noble  deeds  they  performed,  should  become  the  scoff  of 
sycophants  and  oppressors,  and  be  blackened  by  the  smooth 
falsehoods  of  the  selfish  and  the  cold,  there  never  will  be 
wanting  hearts  in  Nev/  England  to  kindle  at  their  virtues, 
nor  tongues  and  pens  to  vindicate  their  name. 


144  THE      £AGLE, 


THE     EAGLE. 

BY   J.    G.   PERCITAL. 

Bird  of  the  broad  and  sweeping  wing, 

Thy  home  is  high  in  heaven, 
Where  wide  the  storms  their  banners  fling. 

And  the  tempest  clouds  are  driven. 
Thy  throne  is  on  the  mountain  top  ; 

Thy  fields,  the  boundless  air  ; 
And  hoary  peaks  that  proudly  prop 

Tlie  skies,  thy  dwellmgs  are. 

Thou  sittest  like  a  thing  of  light, 

Amid  the  noontide  blaze  : 
Tlie  midway  sun  is  clear  and  bright ; 

It  cannot  dim  thy  gaze. 
Thy  pinions,  to  the  rushmg  blast, 

O'er  the  bm*sting  billow,  spread, 
Where  the  vessel  plunges,  hurry  past, 

Like  an  angel  of  the  dead. 

Thou  art  perch'd  aloft  on  the  beetling  crag, 
And  the  waves  are  white  below, 

And  on,  with  a  haste  that  cannot  lag, 
They  rish  in  endless  flow. 


THE      EAGLE.  145 

Again  thou  hast  plumed  thy  whig  for  flight 

To  lands  beyond  the  sea, 
And  away,  like  a  spirit  wreathed  in  light, 

Thou  hurriest,  wild  and  free. 

Thou  hurriest  over  the  myriad  waves, 

And  thou  leavest  them  all  behind  ; 
Thou  sweepest  that  place  of  unknown  graves, 

Fleet  as  the  tempest  wind. 
When  the  night-storm  gathers  dim  and  dark 

With  a  shrill  and  bodmg  scream, 
Thou  rushest  by  the  foundering  bark, 

Quick  as  a  passmg  dream. 

Lord  of  the  boundless  ream  of  air, 

In  thy  imperial  name, 
The  hearts  of  the  bold  and  ardent  dare 

The  dangerous  path  of  fame. 
Beneath  the  shade  of  thy  golden  wings, 

The  Roman  legions  bore, 
From  the  river  of  EgyjDt's  cloudy  springs, 

Then*  pride,  to  the  polar  shore. 

For  thee  they  fought,  for  thee  they  fell, 

And  theu'  oath  was  on  thee  laid  ; 
To  thee  the  clarions  raised  then'  swell, 

And  the  dying  waiTior  pray'd. 


146  THE      EAGLE. 

Thoa  wert,  througli  au  age  of  death  and  fears, 
The  image  of  pride  and  power, 

Till  the  gather'd  rage  of  a  thousand  years 
Burst  forth  in  one  awful  hour. 


And  then  a  deluge  of  wrath  it  came, 

And  the  nations  shook  with  dread  : 
And  it  swept  the  earth  till  its  fields  were  flame, 

And  pUed  with  the  mingled  dead. 
Kings  were  roll'd  in  the  wasteful  flood. 

With  the  low  and  crouching  slave  ; 
And  together  lay,  in  a  shroud  of  blood. 

The  coward  and  the  brave. 

And  where  was  then  thy  fearless  flight  ? 

"  O'er  the  dark,  mysterious  sea. 
To  the  lands  that  caught  the  setting  light. 

The  cradle  of  Liberty. 
There,  on  the  silent  and  lonely  shore. 

For  ages,  I  watch'd  alone. 
And  the  world,  in  its  darkness,  ask'd  no  more 

Where  the  glorious  bird  had  flown. 

'  But  then  came  a  bold  and  hardy  few. 

And  they  breasted  the  unknown  wave  ; 
I  caught  afar  the  wandering  cr  iw  ; 
And  I  knew  they  were  high  and  brave. 


THE      EAGLE,  l' 

I  wheel'd  around  the  welcome  bark, 

As  it  sought  the  desolate  shore, 
And  up  to  heaven,  like  a  joyous  lark, 

My  quivering  pinions  bore. 

And  now  that  bold  and  hardy  few 

Are  a  nation  wide  and  strong ; 
And  danger  and  doubt  I  have  led  them  through, 

And  they  worship  me  in  song  ; 
And  over  their  bright  and  glancmg  arms, 

On  field,  and  lake,  and  sea, 
With  an  eye  that  fires,  and  a  spell  that  charms. 

I  guide  them  to  victory." 


148  SUPPOSED      SPEECH      OF      ADAMS, 


SUPrOSED  SPEECH  OF  ADAMS, 

'  IN    FAVOR    OF   THE    DECLARATION    OF    I>rDEPENDENCE. 
BY   DANIEL  WEBSTER. 

Sink  or  swim,  live  or  die,  survive  or  perish,  I  give  my  hand 
and  my  heart  to  this  vote.  It  is  true,  indeed,  that  in  the 
beginning,  w^e  aimed  not  at  independence.  But  there's  a 
Divinity  which  shapes  our  ends.  The  injustice  of  England 
has  driven  us  to  aims  ;  and,  blinded  to  her  own  interest  for 
our  good,  she  has  obstmately  persisted,  till  independence  is 
now  within  our  grasp.  We  have  but  to  reach  forth  to  it,  and 
it  is  om*s.  Why  then  should  we  defer  the  declaration  ?  Is 
any  man  so  w' eak  as  now  to  hoj^e  for  a  reconciliation  with 
England,  which  shall  leave  either  safety  to  the  country  and 
its  liberties,  or  safety  to  his  own  life,  and  his  own  lionor  ? 
Are  not  you,  sir,  who  sit  in  that  chair,  is  not  her  our  venera- 
ble colleague  near  you,  are  you  not  both  already  the  pro- 
scribed and  predestined  objects  of  punislmient  and  of  ven- 
geance ?  Cut  off  from  all  hope  of  royal  clemency,  what  are 
you,  what  can  you  be,  while  the  power  of  England  remams, 
but  outlaws  ?  If  we  postpone  independence,  do  we  mean  to 
carry  on,  or  to  give  up  the  war  ?  Do  we  mean  to  submit  to 
tlie  measures  of  Parliament,  Boston  port-bill  and  all  ?  Do 
we  mean  to  submit,  and  consent  th:;t  wo  ourselves  shall  be 


SUPPOSED      SPEECH      OF      ADAMS.  149 

ground  to  powder,  and  our  country  and  its  rights  trodden 
down  into  dust  ?  I  know  we  do  not  mean  to  submit.  We 
never  shall  submit  The  war  then  must  go  on.  We  must 
fight  it  through.  And  if  the  war  must  go  on,  vrhy  put  off 
longer  the  Declaration  of  Independence  ?  That  measure  will 
strengthen  us.  It  will  give  us  character  abroad.  If  we  fail, 
it  can  be  no  worse  for  us.  But  we  shall  not  fail.  The  cause 
will  raise  up  armies,  the  cause  vrill  create  navies.  The  people, 
tiie  people,  if  we  are  true  to  them,  will  carry-  us,  and  will 
carry  themselves,  gloriously,  through  this  struggle.  Su',  the 
declaration  will  inspire  the  people  vrith  increased  courage. 
Read  this  declaration  at  the  head  of  the  army  ;  every  sword 
will  be  drawn  from  its  scabbard,  and  the  solemn  vow  uttered 
to  maintain  it,  or  to  perish  on  the  bed  of  honor.  Publish  it 
from  the  pulpit ;  religion  will  approve  it,  and  the  love  of  reli- 
gious liberty  will  cling  round  it,  resolved  to  stand  with  it,  or 
fall  with  it.  Send  it  to  the  public  hall ;  proclaim  it  there  ; 
let  them  hear  it  who  heard  the  first  roar  of  the  enemy's  can- 
non ;  let  them  see  it,  who  saw  their  brothers  and  their  sons 
fall  on  the  field  of  Bunker  Hill,  and  in  the  streets  of  Lexing- 
ton and  Concord,  and  the  very  walls  will  cry  out  in  its 
support. 

Sir,  I  know  the  uncertainty  of  human  affairs,  but  I  see,  I 
see  clearly  through  this  day's  business.  You  and  I,  indeed, 
may  rue  it.  We  may  not  live  to  the  time  when  this  declara- 
tion shall  be  made  good.  We  may  die  ;  die,  colonists  ;  die, 
slaves ;  die,  it  may  be,  ignominiously,  and  on  the  scaffold. 
Be  it  so.     Be  it  so,     But  if  it  be  the  pleasure  of  heaven  that 


150  SUPPOSED      SPEECH      OF      ADAMS. 

my  country  shall  require  the  poor  offering  of  my  life,  the  vic- 
tim shall  be  ready  at  the  appointed  hour  of  sacrifice,  come 
when  that  hour  may.  But  while  I  do  live,  let  me  have  a 
country,  or  at  least  the  hope  of  a  country,  and  that  a  free 
country.  Whatever  may  be  our  fate,  be  assured,  be  assured, 
that' this  declaration  will  stand.  It  may  cost  treasure,  and  it 
may  cost  blood  ;  but  it  will  stand,  and  it  will  richly  compen- 
sate for  both.  Through  the  thick  gloom  of  the  present,  I  see 
the  brightness  of  the  future,  as  the  sun  in  heaven.  We  shall 
make  this  a  glorious,  an  immortal  day.  When  we  are  in  om* 
graves,  our  children  Avill  honor  it.  They  will  celebrate  it, 
with  thanksgiving,  with  festivity,  with  bonfires,  and  illumina- 
tions. On  its  annual  retm-n  they  will  shed  tears,  copious 
gushing  tears,  not  of  subjection  and  slavery,  not  of  agony  and 
distress,  but  of  exultation,  of  gratitude,  and  of  joy.  Sir, 
before  God,  I  believe  the  horn*  has  come.  My  judgment 
approves  this  measm'e,  and  my  whole  heart  is  in  it.  All  that 
I  have,  and  all  that  I  am,  and  all  that  I  hope,  in  this  life,  I 
am  now  ready  here  to  stake  upon  it ;  and  I  leave  off,  as  I 
began,  that  live  or  die,  survive  or  perish,  I  am  for  the  declar- 
ation. It  is  my  living  sentiment,  and  by  the  blessing  of  God 
it   shall   ])e   my  dying   sentiment ;  independence,  nc^o;  and 

IXDEPENDEXCE  FOR  E^'ER  ! 


AMERICA,      COMMERCE      AND      FREEDOM.  151 


AMERICA,  COMMERCE  AND  FREEDOM. 

BY  SUSANNAH   ROWSON. 

How  blest  a  life  a  sailor  leads, 

From  clime  to  clime  still  ranging  ; 
For  as  the  calm  the  storm  succeeds, 
The  scene  dehghts  by  changing  ! 
When  Tempests  howl  along  the  main, 

Some  object  will  remind  us, 
And  cheer  with  hopes  to  meet  again 
Those  friends  we've  left  behind  us. 
Then,  under  snug  sail,  we  laugh  at  the  gale, 

And  though  landsmen  look  pale  never  heed  'em  ; 
But  toss  off  a  glass  to  a  favorite  lass, 
To  America,  commerce,  and  freedom  I 

And  when  arrived  in  sight  of  land, 

Or  safe  in  port  rejoicing, 
Our  ship  we  moor,  our  sails  we  hand, 

Whilst  out  the  boat  is  hoisting. 
With  eager  haste  the  shore  we  reach, 

Our  friends  delighted  greet  us ; 
And,  tripping  lightly  o'er  the  beach, 

The  pretty  lasses  meet  us. 


152  AMERICA,      COM  MERCK      AND      FREEDOM. 

When  the  full-flowing  bowl  has  enlivened  the  soul, 

To  foot  it  we  merrily  lead  'em, 
And  each  bonny  lass  will  drink  off  a  glass 

To  America,  commerce,  and  freedom  ! 

Our  cargo  sold,  the  chink  we  share, 

And  gladly  we  receive  it ; 
And  if  we  meet  a  brother  tar 

Who  wants,  we  freely  give  it. 
No  freeborn  sailor  yet  had  store. 
But  cheerfully  would  lend  it ; 
And  when  'tis  gone,  to  sea  for  more — 
We  earn  it  but  to  spend  it. 
Then  drink  round,  my  boys,  'tis  the  first  of  our  joys, 

To  relieve  the  distressed,  clotl  e  and  feed  'em  ; 
'Tis  a  task  which  we  share  with  the  brave  and  the  fair 
In  this  land  of  commerce  anc  freedom  I 


EMBASSY     TO      ROME.  153 


EMBASSY   TO   ROME. 


BY   L.    C.   LEYIN. 


Sympathy  with  Pope  Pius  IX.  appears  to  be  the  hobby- 
horse of  political  leaders.  O'Coiinell,  the  Irish  reformer,  is 
dead.  The  curtain  has  fallen  upon  the  last  act  of  the  national 
farce,  and  now  the  Pope,  an  Italian  reformer,  steps  upon  the 
stage  to  conclude  what  O'Connell  left  unfinished.  The  hurrah 
has  gone  through  the  country ;  public  meetings  have  been 
held ;  sympathy  for  the  Pope  has  grown  almost  into  a  fash- 
ion :  yet  sir,  in  no  legithnate  sense  can  this  embassy  to  Rome 
be  called  a  national  measure,  intended  for  the  public  benefit. 
We  have  no  commerce  to  protect  in  the  Roman  States  ;  we 
have  no  seamen  whose  rights  may  need  even  the  supervision 
of  a  government  agent  or  consul ;  we  have  no  navy  riding  in 
ner  only  harbor  ;  we  have  no  interests  that  may  be  exposed 
to  jeopardy  for  want  of  an  ambassador. 

The  Papal  flag  has  never  been  known  to  wave  in  an  Ame- 
rican port.  No  American  vessel  has  received  the  visit  of  a 
Pope.  Dwellmg  under  the  shadow  of  the  ruins  of  antiquity, 
they  have  never  disturbed  us,  save  by  the  bulls  of  Pope  Gre- 
gory and  the  intrigues  of  his  Jesuits.  What,  then,  has  pro- 
duced this  sudden  revolution  in  the  concerns  of  the  two  coun- 


154  EMBASSY     TO      ROME. 

tries  ?  We  are  told  that  Pius  IX.  is  a  reformer.  Indeed  ! 
In  what  sense  is  he  a  reformer  ?  Has  he  divested  himself  of 
any  of  his  absolute  prerogatives  ?  Has  he  cast  off  his  claims 
to  mfallibilitj  ?  Has  he  flung  aside  his  triple  crown  ?  Has 
he  become  a  republican  ?  Has  he  emancipated  his  people  ? 
Has  he  suppressed  the  Jesuits  ?  Far  from  it.  Nothing  of 
this  has  been  done.  He  maintains  his  own  prerogatives  as 
absolute  as  Gregory  XIX.,  or  any  other  of  his  illustrious 
predecessors.  In  Vvhat,  then,  does  the  world  give  hun  credit 
for  being  a  reformer  ?  For  building  up  a  new  and  firmer 
foundation  to  his  own  secular  and  hierarchical  power ;  for 
permitting  a  press  to  be  established  in  Rome,  under  his  own 
supervision  and  control ;  for  canying  out  measures  not  to  be 
censured'  ])ut  certainly  giving  him  no  pretensions  beyond  that 
of  a  selfish  sagacity,  intent  on  the  study  of  all  means  calculated 
to  add  stability  to  his  spiritual  power,  and  firmness  to  his  tem- 
poral throne. 

But,  it  is  said,  if  Rome  will  not  come  to  America,  America 
must  go  to  Rome !  This  is  the  new  doctrine  of  an  age  of 
retrogressive  progTcss.  If  the  Pope  will  not  establish  a 
republic  for  his  Itahan  subjects,  we,  the  American  people, 
must  renounce  all  the  ties  of  our  glorious  freedom,  and  endorse 
the  Papal  system  as  the  perfection  of  human  msdom,  by  send- 
ing an  ambassador  to  Rome  to  congratulate  '*'His  Holiness" 
on  having  made — what  ?  The  Roman  people  fi-ee  ?  Oh  i 
no  ;  but  on  having  made  tyranny  amiable  ;  in  having  sugared 
the  poisoned  cake.  And  for  this,  the  highest  crime  against 
freedom  we  are  to  commission  an  embassador  to  Rome  !     Is 


EMBASSY      TO      ROME.  16/ 

there  an  American  heart  that  does  not  recoil  from  the  utter 
degradation  of  the  scheme  ?  Sh',  in  the  name  of  the  Ameri- 
can people,  I  protest  against  this  innovation,  which  would 
make  us  a  bj-word  among  the  nations. 


THE  mmi  CATHOLIC  RELIGION. 

BY   GRACE    GREENWOOD. 

0  Cleopatra  of  religions  I  throned  in  power,  glowing  and 
gorgeous  in  all  imaginable  splendors  and  luxuries  —  proud 
victor  of  victors — in  the  "mfinite  variety"  of  thy  resources 
and  enchantments  more  attractive  than  glory,  resistless  as  fate 
■ — now  terrible  in  the  dusk  splendor  of  thy  imperious  beauty 
— now  softening  and  subtle  as  moonhght,  and  music,  and 
poet-dreams — insolent  and  humble,  stormy  and  tender  !  O 
alluring  tyranny,  O  beautiful  falsehood,  0  fair  and  fatal 
enchantress,  0  sovereign  sorceress  of  the  world  !  the  end  is 
not  yet,  and  the  day  may  not  be  fiar  distant,  when  thou  shalt 
lay  the  asp  to  thine  own  bosom,  and  die. 


156  OLD      IRONSIDES, 


OLD    IROJf  SIDE  S. 

BY   0.   W.   HOLMES. 

Aye,  tear  her  tattered  ensign  down  1 

Long  lias  it  waved  on  high, 
And  many  an  eye  has  danced  to  see 

That  banner  in  the  sky  ; 
Beneath  it  rung  the  battle-shout, 

And  burst  the  cannon's  roar  ; — 
The  meteor  of  the  ocean  air, 

Shall  sweep  the  clouds  no  more  ! 

Her  deck,  once  red  with  heroes'  blood 

Where  knelt  the  vanquished  foe, 
When  winds  were  hurrying  o'er  the  flood, 

And  waves  were  white  below, 
No  more  shall  feel  the  victor's  tread. 

Or  know  the  conquered  knee  ; — 
The  harpies  of  the  shore  shall  pluck 

The  eagle  of  the  sea  ! 

0  better  that  her  shattered  hulk 
Should  sink  beneath  the  wave  ; 

'Her  thunders  shook  the  mighty  deep, 
And  there  should  be  her  grave  ; 


OLD      IRONSIDES.  151 

Nail  to  the  mast  her  holy  flag, 

Set  every  threadbare  sail, 
And  give  her  to  the  god  of  storms, — 

The  lightning  and  the  gale ! 


They  never  fail  who  die 
In  a  great  cause  :  the  block  may  soak  their  gore, 
Their  heads  may  sodden  in  the  sun  ;  their  lunbs 
Be  strung  to  city  gates  and  castle  walls  ; — 
But  still  their  spirit  walks  abroad.     Though  years 
Elapse,  and  others  share  as  dark  a  doom, 
They  but  augment  the  deep  and  sweepmg  thoughts 
Which  overspread  all  others,  and  conduct 
The  world  at  last  to  freedom. 


158  MONUMENT      TO      THE     PILGRIMS, 


MONUMENT   TO    THE    PILGRIMS. 

FROM  THE  NEW  YORK  SHRROR, 

Subscriptions  are  accumulating,  and  arrangements  arc 
rapidly  progressing  for  the  erection  of  a  monument  to  the 
Pilgrims.  The  rock-ribbed  earth  is  to  be  smitten,  and  from 
the  quarry  the  snowy  marble,  or  the  grey  granite  is  to  be 
evoked,  to  swell  from  a  durable  base  into  a  sky-piercing  column, 
whose  sides  shall  bear  record  of  the  peerless  band,  who,  daring 
the  wintry  sea  and  the  wilderness,  landed  centuries  agone  on 
that  rock  of  Plymouth,  which  has  since  become  a  more  than 
Caaba  to  millions  of  their  descendants — milKons  of  proud  and 
happy  freemen.  Worthy  object  for  a  national  monument — 
column,  obelisk,  pyramid,  or  temple  ! — worthy  theme  for  an 
epic  in  granite  or  marble,  in  which  the  heroism  of  the  truest 
of  heroes  shall  be  sung  while  the  earth  lasts. 

Let  the  monument  go  up,  to  the  chorus  of  hammer  and 
trowel,  ringmg  their  hymn  of  grateful  industry — a  strain 
caught  from  the  national  pulse  and  heart — imtil,  crowned  with 
its  cap-stone,  it  shall  catch  the  mormng's  smile  with  a  music 
of  hallowed  reminiscence,  sweeter  than  the  song  of  Memnon. 
A  monument  to  the  Pilgrims  !  fit  associate  of  Bunker's  column, 
and  of  that  temple-based  shaft  rising  to  the  memory  of  him 
who  led  the  children  of  the  Pilgrims  through  the  perils  of 


MONUMENT      TO      THE      riLGRIMS.  159 

revolution,  to  the  altar  of  freedom.  Glorious  trio  of  triumphal 
piles  ! — triumphal,  though  the  Pilgrims,  and  the  day  of  victo- 
rious battle,  and  the  peerless  chief  who  led  the  host  to  victory, 
are  past — triumphal,  in  that  they  quicken  not  nor  brighten 
the  names,  and  deeds,  and  memories  of  the  illusti'ious  dead — 
the  living  and  immortal  dead — but  that  they  will  stand  there 
on  Bunker's  height,  on  Plymouth's  Rock,  and  at  the  Republic's 
Capital,  linking  generations  of  grateful  children  to  the  heroic 
Fathers — making  them,  through  their  gratitude,  worthy  of 
the  name  and  fame  of  the  Pilgrims  ! 

And  yet,  why  should  the  marble  rise  to  such  as  these  ? 
"Why — save  to  honor  the  hving,  rather  than  the  dead  ?  Of 
what  avail  are 

"  Storied  urn  and  animated  bust," 

to  embalm  or  glorify  the  memories  of  the  immortal  ?  The 
rock  on  which  they  landed  ;  the  wilderness  they  subdued  ;  the 
continent  they  planted  ;  the  hemisphere  and  world  they  have 
overspread  with  the  splendor  of  their  achievements — these 
are  the  Pilgrims'  monuments.  The  history  of  a  Nev/  World 
piles  then'  time-defying  column  of  perils  dared,  of  sacrifices 
made,  of  the  battle  fought  and  the  victory  won,  until  it  over- 
tops Grecian  or  Roman  fame. 

A  monument  to  the  Pilgrims ! — it  rises  from  a  nation's 
heart,  spreads  through  a  nation's  proud  memory,  and  points 
on  and  up  in  a  nation's  present  pulsings  and  mighty  future. 
And  their  nam^  and  spirit  are  written  all  over  it — written  in 
the  industry  and  enterprise  that  survive  them  ;  honoring  their 


160  FREEDOM. 

example — in  the  free  schools,  on  the  free  altars,  in  the  free 
thought  and  speech,  and  on  the  free  soil  which  they  bequeathed, 
as  our  priceless  inheritance  ;  and  in  the  institutions  by  which 
they  triumphed,  and  which  are  our  glory  and  the  admiration 
of  the  world,  the  Pilgrims  have  their  monument,  more  dura- 
ble than  marble  or  granite.  They  will  be  glorified  when  the 
pyramids  shall  have  crumbled,  and  the  rock-piles  builded  to 
their  memoiy  are  powdered  under  the  heel  of  time.  It  is  only 
we,  their  children,  whom  special  monuments  can  serve.  These 
will  testify  our  gratitude,  to  our  own  honor ^  more  than  they 
can  add  to  the  immortality  of  our  Pilgrim  Fathers 


FREEDOM. 


By  the  hope  within  us  sprmging, 
Herald  of  to-morrow's  strife  ; 

By  that  sun,  whose  light  is  bringing 
Chains  of  freedom,  death  or  life — 

0  remember,  Ufe  can  be 
No  charm  for  him  who  lives  not  fi*ee  I 


NEW      ENGLAND.  161 


NEW   ENGLAND. 

BY  J.   G.   PERCIVAL. 

Hail  to  the  land  whereon  we  tread, 

Our  fondest  boast ; 
The  sepulchre  of  mighty  dead, 
The  truest  hearts  that  ever  bled, 
Who  sleep  on  Glory's  brightest  bed, 

A  fearless  host : 
No  slave  is  here  ;  our  unchain'd  feet 
Walk  freely  as  the  waves  that  beat 

Our  coast. 

Our  fathers  cross'd  the  ocean's  w^ave 

To  seek  this  shore  ; 
They  left  behind  the  coward  slave 
To  welter  in  his  living  grave  ; 
With  hearts  unbent,  and  spu-its  brave. 

They  sternly  bore 
Such  toils  as  meaner  souls  had  quell'd ; 
But  souls  like  these,  such  toils  impell'd 

To  soar. 

Hail  to  the  morn,  when  first  they  stood 
On   Bunker's  height, 


162  NEW      EXGLAND, 

And,  fearless,  stemm'd  the  invading  flood, 
And  wrote  our  dearest  rights  in  blood, 
And  mow'd  in  ranks  the  hireling  brood, 

In  desperate  fight ! 
O,  'twas  a  proud,  exulting  day, 
For  even  our  fallen  fortunes  lay 

In  light. 

There  is  no  other  land  like  thee, 

No  dearer  shore  ; 
Thou  art  the  shelter  of  the  free  ; 
The  home,  the  port  of  Liberty, 
Thou  hast  been,  and  shall  ever  be, 

Till  time  is  o'er. 
Ere  I  forget  to  think  upon 
My  land,  shall  mother  curse  the  son 

She  bore. 

Thou  art  the  firm,  unshaken  rock. 

On  which  we  rest ; 
And,  rising  from  thy  hardy  stock. 
Thy  sons  the  tyrant's  frown  shall  mock, 
And  slavery's  galling  chains  unlock. 

And  free  the  oppress'd  : 
All,  who  the  w^reath  of  Freedom  twine 
li jaeath  the  shadow  of  their  vine. 

Are  bless'd. 


NEW      ENGLAND.  163 

We  love  thy  rude  and  rocky  shore, 

And  here  we  stand — 
Let  foreign  navies  hasten  o'er 
And  on  our  heads  their  fury  pour, 
And  peal  their  cannon's  loudest  roar, 

And  storm  our  land. ; 
They  still  shall  find  our  lives  are  given 
To  die  for  home  ; — and  leant  on  Heaven 

Our  hand. 


Let  Spain  boast  the  treasures  that  grow  in  her  mines 
Let  Gallia  rejoice  in  her  olives  and  vines  ; 
In  bright  sparkling  jewels  let  India  prevail, 
With  her  odors  Arabia  perfume  every  gale  : — 
'Tis  Colmubia  alone  that  can  boast  of  the  soil 
Where  the  fair  fruits  of  virtue  and  liberty  smile. 


164  MOUNT      VERNON. 


M  0  U  NT    V  E  R  N  0  N. 

BY  ERASTUS   BROOKS. 

The  time  lias  come  when  the  Mount  Vernon  estate,  for  a 
century  or  more  in  the  possession  of  the  Washington  family, 
and  for  half  that  time  owned  by  George  Washmgton,  as  a 
bequest  from  his  brother,  must  either  become  tiie  common 
property  of  the  nation,  or  belong  to  one  or  more  of  its 
citizens.  It  was  to  Mount  Yernon,  just  one  hundred  years 
ago,  the  present  winter,  that  Washington  retired  after  throw- 
ing up  his  commission  as  an  officer  in  the  British  army,  in 
consequence  of  a  royal  order,  that  the  officers  of  the  regular 
army  should  take  precedence  of  the  officers  of  the  provincial 
troops.  It  was  from  Mount  Yernon  Washington  went  to 
cross  the  mountains,  to  visit  the  head  waters  of  the  Ohio, 
and  to  penetrate  the  wilderness  shores  of  the  Alleghany. 
From  this  spot  he  was  called  to  take  charge  of  the  armies  of 
the  United  States,  to  preside  over  the  Convention  which 
framed  the  Constitution,  to  be  the  Chief  Magistrate  of  the 
nation  during  the  first  and  second  terms  of  the  Presidential 
office,  and,  finally,  to  be  General-in-Chief  of  the  army  in  the 
threatened  war  between  France  and  the  United  States,  which 
followed  almost  immediately  upon  his  retirement  from  the 
city  which  bore  his   name.     It  was  to  Mount  Yernon  Le 


MOUNT      VERNON.  105 

looked  with  longing  eyes  and  delightful  anticipations  in  all 
intervals  from  the  public  service — when  he  took  leave  of  his 
companions  in  arms  on  the  banks  of  the  beautiful  Hudson  ; 
when  he  gave  up  his  commission  as  general  of  the  army  to 
Congress,  at  Annapolis,  and  when  he  resigned  his  civic 
honors,  and  voaintarily  retired  from  his  eight  years  of  con- 
secutive and  arduous  service  as  President  of  the  United 
States. 

The  practical  question  for  us  to  consider  is,  whether  this 
spot  of  earth — where  Washington  lived,  died,  and  was 
buried  ;  where  he  suffered  an  illness,  which,  though  brief  in 
time,  was  intense  in  character,  where  he  gave  utterance  to 
these  memorable  words — "  I  am  not  afraid  to  die  " — shall  be 
desecrated  to  purposes  of  speculation  and  dissipation,  or  be 
consecrated  to  the  higher  good  of  becoming  the  property  of 
r'ne  people  of  the  entire  American  Union. 

It  has  passed  into  a  proverb  that  republics  are  ungrateful, 
and  when  we  remember  the  long  series  of  omissions  in  regard 
to  the  claims  of  Washington,  I  almost  think  the  proverb  to 
be  true.  Washington,  it  is  known  to  all,  gave  his  best  affec- 
tions, his  hardest  labors,  his  highest  duties  to  the  service  of 
his  country.  Whether  ki  the  army,  or  in  civil  life,  he  drew 
no  more  from  the  treasury  than  a  bare  'sufficiency  to  meet  his 
daily  expenses.  Fifty-four  years  igo,  the  Congress  of  the 
United  States  received  intelligence  of  his  death.  The  Capitol 
fv'as  shrouded  in  sorrow,  while  a  feeling  of  gloom  pervaded 
the  entire  nation.  In  the  freshness  of  the  general  sympathy 
for  the  loss  of  the  lamented  dead,  Congress  adopted  resolu- 


166  MOUNT      VERNOX. 

tions  providing  for  the  erection  of  a  marble  tomb,  and  a  mar- 
ble monmnent  over  the  remains  of  Washington,  and  sent  an 
earnest  request  to  Mrs.  Washington,  that  these  sacred  relics 
of  the  nation's  friend  and  benefactor  should  be  transmitted 
for  final  repose  beneath  the  walls  of  the  Capitol,  and  the  flag 
of  the  country.  The  answer  of  JVIrs.  Washington,  who  was 
a  model  of  her  sex,  and  like  the  mother  of  Washington, 
among  the  noblest  examples  of  the  great  and  good  women  of 
the  land,  was,  that  accustomed  as  she  had  been  to  bring  her 
private  feelings  into  subjection  to  the  voice  of  the  country, 
and  taught  as  she  had  been  by  Washington  himself,  to  bow 
to  the  will  of  the  nation,  she  was  ready  to  suiTender  the 
remains  of  her  deceased  husband  to  what  seemed  to  be  the 
call  of  the  countiy. 

Mr.  President, — I  feel  sure  I  may  bespeak  the  good  mil 
of  the  Senate  of  I^ew  York  for  a  proposition  like  that  upon 
your  table,  and  which  has  come  to  us  unanimously  approved 
by  the  other  branch  of  the  State  Legislatm-e.  My 
assurance  is  founded  upon  the  debt  which  New  York  owes  to 
the  memory  of  the  Father  of  his  Country.  At  Long  Island, 
at  Staten  Island,  on  both  banks  of  the  Hudson,  in  the  city  of 
New  York,  and  all  around  that  city,  through  the  darkest 
hours  of  the  Revolution,  and  in  the  fiercest  struggles  for 
independence,  he  stood  upon  our  soil,  the  defender  of  its 
liberties,  the  preserver  of  its  property,  the  protector  of  the 
lives  of  its  citizens.  It  seems  to  me,  sir,  that  the  waters  of 
the  Hudson,  on  the  shores  of  wliich  Washington  perilled  his 
life,  and  the  waters  of  the  Potomac,  on  the  shores  of  whieli 


MOUNT      VERNON.  167 

he  lived  and  died,  might  be  mingled  into  one  .iowmg  and 

harmonious  river  ;  that  the  Old  Dominion  and  New  York, 

forgetting  all  past  animosities,   might  mutually  bury  then' 

differences  and  divisions  in  the  grave  of  Washington,  and 

upon  the  soil  of  Mount  Yernon.     At  least,  let  me  hope  that 

New  York  will  unanimously  recommend  that  this  hallowed 

gi-ound  will  be  rescued  from  desecration,  and  become  the 

property  of  the  American  people. 

^  ^  ^  ^  ^  ^ 

I  see  before  me  the  beloved  and  honored  John  Marshall, 
of  Yu-ginia,  as  he  addressed  the  representatives  of  the  people 
in  words  which  had  become  historic  truths  :  "  First  in  war, 
first  in  peace,  first  in  the  hearts  of  his  countrynmny  I  see  the 
venerated  form  of  President  John  Adams,  on  whose  motion 
in  the  Provincial  Congress,  George  Washington  had  been 
placed  at  the  head  of  the  American  armies.  I  hear  his  letter 
read  to  the  two  Houses  of  Congress,  in  answer  to  the  oflBcial 
record  of  his  death.  I  read  his  declaration,  that  if  "  Trajan 
found  a  Phny,  Marcus  Aurehus  will  not  need  historians, 
biographers,  or  eulogists."  Ti'ue,  su',  it  is  that  Washington 
needs  neither  historians,  biographers,  nor  eulogists.  His 
name  is  written  all  over  the  country,  while  his  fame  is 
inscribed  upon  the  hearts  of  all  his  countrymen.  But  the 
soil  where  his  remains  repose  is  not,  as  it  should  ])e,  the  pro- 
perty of  the  nation.  In  the  tomb  of  Washington  and  the 
home  of  Washington,  I  would  let  every  American  citizen 
enjoy  an  ownership,  and  therefore  it  is  I  so  urgently  press 
the  passage  of  this  resolution. 


1G8  MOTNT      VERNON. 

3f»  ^  'JI  *jC  3|C  5JS 

Washington  was  a  hero,  a  statesman,  a  philanthropist,  a 
patriot,  and,  to  sum  up  all,  in  one  word,  he  was  an  American. 
Xo  i)ublic  man,  living  or  dead,  can  be  compared  with  him  in 
moral  purity,  in  generous  self-sacrifices,  or  in  disinterested 
benevolence.  The  sublimity  of  his  character,  rising  in  ma- 
jesty above  all  common  levels,  reminds  one  of  "  the  cloud- 
capt  towers "  of  the  Alps  or  Apennines,  as  the  traveller  at 
the  foot  of  these  mountains  has  seen  them  bathed  in  the  morn- 
ing sunlight,  and  kissing  the  very  skies  with  which  they 
seemed  to  hold  delightful  communion ;  or  to  come  to  our 
own  home,  it  soars  as  much  above  the  level  of  common  men, 
as  the  highest  peaks  of  the  Alleghanies  rise  above  the  muddy 
waters  of  the  Ohio.  I  compare  the  Hon.  Senator  to  no  such 
man,  nor  Washington  to  any  man  whatsoever. 

If  I  heard  the  Senator  read  aright,  he  alluded  to  what  is 
called  "  the  Higher  Law  !"  There  are  men,  sir,  who  can 
boldly  march  to  the  desk  of  the  presiding  officer  of  this  body, 
and,  holding  up  their  right  hands,  repeat  the  sacred  words — • 
^^  I  do  sohmiihj  sivear  that  I  tcill  support  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States,^'  or  who,  as  they  repeat  these  solemn 
pledges  of  fidelity,  can  put  their  lips  to  God's  holy  book,  and 
imprint,  I  fear,  just  such  a  kiss  upon  it,  as  that  with  which 
Judas  betrayed  his  Master.  For  one,  sir,  I  know  of  no 
higher  law  to  govern  me  here  than  the  Constitution  of  my 
country,  and  when  I  say  this,  I  speak  both  as  a  legislator 
and  a  man.     That  Co:!  litution  is  in  perfect  harmoiiv  with 


MOrXT      VERXON.  169 

the  teachings  of  God,  and  the  precepts  of  humanity.  It  was 
modelled  by  good  Christian  men,  and  is  in  perfect  conformity 
with  divine  wisdom  and  the  highest  public  good.  Sir,  I  can 
have  some  respect  for  the  logic  of  those  bold  bad  men,  Avho 
find  in  the  Constitution  a  power  which  they  hate,  and  who 
are,  therefore,  ready  to  tear  the  instrument  to  pieces,  and 
tramjDle  it  under  foot.  I  can  have  no  respect  whatever  for 
that  other  class  of  higher  law  persons,  who  take  upon  them 
the  oath  of  God  to  abide  by  the  Constitution,  and  yet  are 
ready  to  violate  it  as  often  as  it  conflicts  with  their  interests 
or  principles  to  support  it. 

ijc  ;|c  ^  ^  ;}j  5ic 

I  hope  that  this  resolution,  upon  which  I  have  been  urging 
action  from  day  to  day,  is  not  to  be  mutilated  or  destroyed. 
I  have  exhausted  all  the  language  and  argument  of  which  I 
am  capable,  in  favor  of  its  adoption  as  it  came  to  us  from  the 
Assembly,  and  in  conclusion,  borrowing  words  and  thoughts 
stronger  than  any  of  my  own,  I  must  say  to  you  as  the  great 
Pericles  said  to  the  people  of  Athens,  upon  an  occasion  not 
wholly  dissimilar  to  the  present :  "  O  Athenians  (Americans 
I  would  say),  these  dead  bodies  ask  no  monument :  their 
monument  arose  when  they  fell,  and  so  long  as  liberty  shall 
have  defenders,  their  names  will  be  imperishable.  But,  0 
Athenians,  it  is  we  who  need  a  monument  to  their  honor. 
We,  who  survive,  not  having  yet  prcA'ed  that  we,  too,  could 
die  for  our  country,  and  be  immortal.  We  need  a  monument, 
that  the  widows  and  children  of  the  dead,  and  all  Greece, 
and  the  shades  of  the  departed,  and  all  future  ages  may  see 


no  MOUNT      VERXOX. 

and  know  that  we  honor  patriotism,  and  virtue,  and  hberty, 
and  truth ;  for,  next  to  performing  a  great  deed,  and 
achieving  a  noble  character,  is  to  honor  such  characters  and 
deeds  " 


But  slaves,  that  once  conceive  the  glowing  thought 

Of  freedom,  in  that  hope  itself  possess 

All  that  the  contest  calls  for  : — spirit,  strength, 

The  scorn  of  danger,  and  united  hearts, 

The  surest  presage  of  the  good  tliey  seek. 


THE      xMOTHERS      OF      THE      WEST.  171 


THE  MOTHERS  OF  THE  WEST. 

BY  W.   D.    GALLAGHER. 

The  mothers  of  our  forest-land  ! 

Stout-hearted  dames  were  they  ; 
Witli  nerve  to  wield  tlie  battle-brand, 

And  join  the  border  fray. 
Our  rough  land  had  no  braver, 

In  its  days  of  blood  and  strife — 
Aye  ready  for  severest  toil, 

Aye  free  to  peril  life. 

The  mothers  of  our  forest-land  ! 

On  old  Kentucky's  soil, 
How  shared  they,  with  each  dauntless  band, 

War's  tempest  and  life's  toil  I 
They  shrank  not  from  the  foeman — 

They  qiiail'd  not  in  the  light — 
But  cheer'd  their  husbands  through  the  day. 

And  soothed  them  through  the  night. 

The  mothers  of  om'  forest-land  ! 

Their  bosoms  pillow'd  men  I 
And  proud  were  they  by  such  to  stand, 

In  hammock   fort,  oi'  g\en, 


172  THE      MOTHERS      OF      THE      WEST, 

To  load  the  sure  old  rifle — 
To  run  the  leaden  ball — 

To  watch  a  battling  husband's  place, 
And  fill  it  should  he  fall. 

The  mothers  of  our  forest-land  I 

Such  were  then*  daily  deeds. 
Their  monument  1 — where  does  it  stand  ? 

Their  epitaph  ! — who  reads  ? 
No  braver  dames  had  Sparta, 

No  nobler  matrons  Rome- 
Yet  who  or  lauds  or  honors  them, 

E'en  in  their  own  green  home  ? 

The  mothers  of  our  forest  land  I 
They  sleep  in  unknown  graves. 

And  had  they  borne  and  nursed  a  band 
Of  ingrates,  or  of  slaves, 

They  had  not  been  more  neglected  I 

But  their  graves  shall  yet  be  found, 

And  their  monuments  dot  here  and  there 
■  The  Dark  and  Bloody  Ground  I" 


SCIENCE      FRIENDLY      TO      FREEDOM.  173 


SCIENCE  FRIENDLY  TO  FREEEOM. 

s  BY   E.   H.    CHAPIN. 

No  cause  is  so  bound  up  with  religion  as  the  cause  of 
political  liberty  and  the  rights  of  man.  Unless  I  have  read 
history  backwards — unless  Magna  Charta  is  a  mistake,  and 
the  Bill  of  Rights  a  sham,  and  the  Declaration  of  Indepen- 
dence a  contumacious  falsehood — unless  the  sages,  and  heroes, 
and  martyrs,  who  have  fought  and  bled,  were  impostors — ■ 
ifjless  the  subhmest  transactions  in  modern  history,  on  Tower 
Hill,  in  the  Parliaments  of  London,  on  the  sea-tossed  May- 
flower— unless  these  are  all  deceitful,  there  is  no  cause  so 
linked  ^vith  religion  as  the  cause  of  democratic  liberty. 

And,  sir,  not  only  are  all  the  moral  principle,  which  we 
can  summon,  on  the  side  of  this  great  cause,  but  the  physical 
movements  of  the  age  attend  it  and  advance  it.  Nature  is 
republican.  The  discoveries  of  Science  are  republican. 
Sir,  what  are  these  new  forces,  steam  and  electricity,  but 
powers  that  are  levelling  all  factitious  distinctions,  and  forcing 
the  world  on  to  a  noble  destiny  ?  Have  they  not  already 
propelled  the  nineteenth  century  a  thousand  years  ahead  ? 
What  are  they  but  the  servitors  of  the  people,  and  not  of  a 
class?     Does  not  the  poor  man  of  to-day  ride   in  a    car 


174  SCIENCE      FRIENDLY      TO      FREEDOM. 

dragged  hj  forces  such  as  never  waited  on  kings,  or  drove 
the  Avheels  of  triumphal  chariots?  Does  he  not  yoke  the 
lightning,  and  touch  the  maguetic  nerves  of  the  world  ? 
The  steam-engine  is  a  democrat.  It  is  the  popular  heart 
that  throbs  in  its  iron  pulses.  And  the  electric  telegraph 
writes  upon  the  walls  of  despotism,  Me  fie  Tnene  teM  npharsin ! 
There  is  a  process  going  on  in  the  moral  and  political  world 
— hke  that  in  the  physical  world — crumbling  the  old  Saurian 
forms  of  past  ages,  and  breaking  up  old  landmarks  ;  and  this 
moral  process  is  Working  under  Neapolitan  dungeons  and 
Austrian  thrones  ;  and,  sir,  it  will  tumble  over  your  Metter- 
nichs  and  Nicholases,  and  convert  your  Josephs  into  fossils, 
I  repeat  it,  sir,  not  only  are  all  the  moral  principles  of  the 
age,  but  all  the  physical  principles  of  nature,  as  developed  by 
man,  at  work  in  behalf  of  freedom. 

Live,  aud  take  comfort.     Thou  hast  left  behind 
Powers  that  will  work  for  thee  ;  earth,  air,  and  skies  : 
There's  not  a  breathing  of  the  common  wind. 
That  will  forget  thee  ;  1-hou  hast  great  allies  ; 
Thy  friends  are  exultations,  agonies, 
And  love,  aud  Man's  unconquerable  mind. 


ADAMS      AND      LIBERTY.  175 


ADAMS    AND   LIBERTY. 

BY    R.    T.   PAINE. 

Ye  sons  of  Columbia,  who  bravely  have  fought 

For   those   rights,  which   unstain'd   from   yrar   su'es  had 
descended, 
May  you  long  taste  the  blessings  your  valor  has  bought, 
And  yom*  sons  reap  the  soil  which  thek*  fathers  defended. 
Mid  the  reign  of  mild  Peace 
May  your  nation  increase, 
With  the  glory  of  Rome,  and  the  wisdom  of  Greece  ; 
And  ne'er  shall  the  sons  of  Columbia  be  slaves, 
While  the  earth  bears  a  plant,  or  the  sea  rolls  its  waves. 

In  a  chme  whose  rich  vales  feed  the  marts  of  the  world, 

Whose  shores  are  unshaken  by  Europe's  commotion, 
The  trident  of  commerce  should  never  be  hurl'd. 
To  incense  the  legitimate  powers  of  the  ocean. 
But  should  pirates  invade. 
Though  in  thunder  array 'd. 
Let  your  cannon  declare  the  free  charter  of  trade. 
For  never  shall  tlie  sons,  &c. 


170  AD  A  .M  S      A  X  It      L  I  B  E  R  T  Y  . 

The  fame  of  our  arms,  of  our  laws  the  mild  sway, 

Had  justly  ennobled  om'  nation  in  story, 
Till  tlic  dark  clouds  of  faction  obscured  our  young  day 
And  envelop'd  the  sun  of  American  glory. 
But  let  traitors  be  told. 
Who  their  country  have  sold, 
A  nd  barter'd  then*  God  for  his  image  in  gold, 
-    That  ne'er  will  the  sons,  &c. 


While  France  her  huge  limbs  bathes  recumbent  in  blood, 

And  society's  base  threats  with  wide  dissolution. 
May  Peace,  like  the  dove  who  retum'd  from  the  flood, 
Find  an  ark  of  abode  in  our  mild  Constitution. 
But  though  peace  is  our  aim, 
Yet  the  boon  we  disclaim. 
If  bought  by  oiu"  sovereignty,  justice,  or  fame. 
For  ne'er  shall  the  sons,  &c. 

'Tis  the  fire  of  the  flmt  each  American  warms  ; 

Let  Rome's  haughty  victors  beware  of  collision  ; 
Let  them  bring  all  the  vessels  of  Europe  in  arms  ; 
We're  a  world  by  ourselves,  and  disdain  a  division. 
While,  with  patriot  pride, 
To  our  laws  we're  allied, 
No  foe  can  subdue  us,  no  faction  divide. 
For  ne'er  shall  the  sons,  &c. 


ADAMS      AND      LIBERTY.  HT 

Our  mountains  are  crowned  with  imperial  oak, 

Whose  roots,  like  our  liberties,  ages  have  nourish'd  ; 
But  long  ere  our  nation  submits  to  the  yoke, 

IS'ot  a  tree  shall  be  left  on  the  field  where  it  flourished. 
Should  invasion  impend, 
Every  grove  would  descend 
From  the  hilltops  they  shaded  our  shores  to  defend. 
For  ne'er  shall  the  sons,  &c. 

Let  our  patriots  destroy  Anarch's  pestilent  worm. 

Lest  our  liberty's  growth  should  be  checked  by  corrosion  ; 
Then  let  clouds  thicken  round  us  ;  we  heed  not  the  storm  ; 
Our  realm  fears  no  shock,  but  the  earth's  own  explosion. 
Foes  assail  us  in  vain, 
Though  their  fleets  bridge  the  main. 
For  our  altars  and  laws  with  our  lives  we'll  maintain. 
For  ne'er  shall  the  sons,  &c. 


Should  the  tempest  of  war  overshadow  our  land, 

Its  bolts  could  ne'er  rend  Freedom's  temple  asunder ; 
For,  unmoved,  at  its  portal  would  Washington  stand, 
And  repulse,  with  his  breast,  the  assaults  of  the  thunder  I 

His  sword  from  the  sleep 

Of  its  scabbard  would  leap, 
Aid  conduct  with  its  point  every  flash  to  the  deep  I 

For  ne'er  shall  the  sons,  &c. 


8* 


178  ADAMS      AND      LIBERTY. 

Ijet  Fame  to  the  world  sound  America's  voice  ; 

Xo  intrigues  can  her  sons  from  their  government  sever ; 
Her  pride  is  her  Ada^is  ;  her  laws  are  his  choice, 
And  shall  flourish  till  Liberty  slumbers  for  ever. 
Then  unite  heart  and  hand, 
Like  Leoxidas'  band, 
And  swear  to  the  God  of  the  ocean  and  land, 
That  ne'er  shall  the  sons  of  Columbia  be  slaves, 
While  the  earth  bears  a  plant,  or  the  sea  rolls  its  waves 


TEACHINGS      OF      THE      REVOLUTION.  179 


TEACHIiXGS  OF  THE  REVOLUTION. 

BY   JARED  SPARKS. 

Happy  vas  it  for  America,  happy  for  the  world,  that  a 
great  name  a  guardian  genius,  presided  over  her  destinies  in 
war,  combining  more  than  the  virtues  of  the  Roman  Fabius 
and  the  Theban  Epaminondas,  and  compared  with  whom,  the 
conquerors  of  the  world,  the  Alexanders  and  Caesars,  are  but 
pageants  crimsoned  Tvdth  blood  and  decked  with  the  trophies 
of  slaughter,  objects  equally  of  the  wonder  and  the  execration 
of  mankind.  The  hero  of  America  was  the  conqueror  only 
of  his  country's  foes,  and  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen.  To 
the  one  he  was  a  terror,  and  in  the  other  he  gained  an  ascend- 
ancy, supreme,  umivalled,  the  tribute  of  admiring  gratitude, 
the  reward  of  a  nation's  love. 

The  American  armies,  compared  with  the  embattled  legions 
of  the  old  world,  were  small  in  numbers,  but  the  soul  of  a 
whole  people  centred  in  the  bosom  of  those  more  than  Spar- 
tan bands,  and  vibrated  quickly  and  keenly  with  every  inci- 
dent that  befel  them,  whether  in  their  feats  of  valor,  or  the 
acuteness  of  their  sufferings.  The  country  itself  was  one 
wide  battle-field,  in  which  not  merely  the  life-blood,  but  tlie 
dearest  interests,  the  sustaining  hopes,  of  every  individual, 
were  at  stake.     It   was   not  a  war  of  pride'  and  ambition 


180       TEACHIXGS   OF   THE   REVOLUTION. 

between  mDnarchs,  in  which  an  island  or  a  province  might  be 
the  award  of  success ;  it  was  a  contest  for  personal  liberty 
and  civil  rights,  coming  down  in  its  principles  to  the  very 
sanctuary  of  home  and  the  fireside,  and  determining  for  every 
man  the  measure  of  responsibility  he  should  hold  over  his  own 
condition,  possessions  and  happiness.  The  spectacle  was 
grand  and  new,  and  may  well  be  cited  as  the  most  glowing 
page  in  the  annals  of  progressive  man. 

The  instructive  lesson  of  history,  teaching  by  example,  can 
nowhere  be  studied  with  more  profit,  or  with  a  better  pro- 
mise, than  in  this  revolutionary  period  of  America  ;  and 
especially  by  us,  who  sit  under  the  tree  our  fathers  have 
planted,  enjoy  its  shade,  and  are  nourished  by  its  fruits.  But 
Uttle  is  our  merit,  or  gain,  that  we  applaud  their  deeds, 
unless  we  emulate  their  virtues,  liOve  of  country  was  hi 
them  an  absorbing  principle,  an  undivided  feeling  ;  not  of  a 
fragment,  a  section,  but  of  the  whole  country.  Union  was 
the  arch  on  which  they  raised  the  strong  tower  of  a  nation's 
independence.  Let  the  arm  be  palsied  that  would  loosen 
one  stone  in  the  basis  of  this  fair  structure,  or  mar  its 
beauty  ;  the  tongue  mute,  that  would  dishonor  their  names, 
by  calculating  the  value  of  that  which  they  deemed  without 
price. 

They  have  left  us  an  example  already  inscribed  in  the 
world's  memory  ;  an  example  por lentous  to  the  aims  of 
tyranny  in  every  land  ;  an  example  that  will  console  in  all 
ages  the  drooping  aspirations  of  oppressed  humanity.  They 
have  left  u«  a  written  charter  as  a  legacy,  and  as  a  guide 


TEACHINGS      OF      THE      REVOLUTION.  181 

to  our  course.  But  every  day  convinces  us  that  a  written 
charter  may  become  powerless.  Ignorance  may  misinterpret 
it ;  ambition  may  assail,  and  faction  destroy  its  vital  parts  ; 
and  aspiring  knavery  may  at  last  sing  its  requiem  on  the 
tomb  of  departed  liberty.  It  is  the  spirit  which  lives  ;  in 
this  is  our  safety  and  our  hope  ;  the  spirit  of  our  fathers  ; 
and  while  this  dwells  deeply  in  our  remembrance,  and  its 
flame  is  cherished,  ever  burning,  ever  pure,  on  the  altar  of 
our  hearts ;  while  it  incites  us  to  think  as  they  have  thought, 
and  do  as  they  have  done,  the  honor  and  the  praise  will  be 
ours,  to  have  preserved  unimpaired  the  rich  inheritance, 
which  they  so  nobly  achieved. 


182  AMERICANS      WHO      FELL     AT      EUTAW. 


AMERICANS  WHO  FELL  AT  EUTAW, 


BY   P.   FRENEAU. 


At  Eutaw  Springs  the  valiaut  died  ; 

Their  Hmbs  with  dust  are  cover'd  o'er — ■ 
Weep  on,  ye  sprmgs,  your  tearful  tide  ; 

How  many  heroes  are  no  more  I 

If,  in  this  wreck  of  ruin,  they 

Can  yet  be  thought  to  claim  the  tear, 
O  smite  your  gentle  breast,  and  say. 

The  friends  of  freedom  slumber  here  I 

Thou  who  shalt  trace  this  bloody  plain, 
If  goodness  rules  thy  generous  breast, 

Sigh  for  the  wasted  rural  reign  ; 

Sigh  for  the  shepherds,  sunk  to  rest ! 

Stranger,  their  humble  graves  adorn  ; 

You  too  may  fall,  and  ask  a  tear : 
'Tis  not  the  beauty  of  the  morn 

That  proves  the  evening  shall  be  clear. 

They  saw  their  injured  country's  wo  ; 

The  flaming  town,  the  wasted  field ; 
Then  rush'd  to  meet  the  insulting  foe  ; 

They  took  the  spear— but  left  the  shield. 


AMERICANS      WHO      FEI.L      AT      EUTAW.  183 

Led  by  the  conquerhig  geiiius,  Greene, 

The  Britons  they  compell'd  to  fly  : 
None  distant  viewed  the  fatal  plain  ; 

None  grieved,  in  such  a  cause  to  die. 

But  like  the  Parthians,  famed  of  old, 
Who,  flying,  still  their  arrows  threw , 

These  routed  Britons,  full  as  bold, 
Retreated,  and  retreating  slew. 

Now  rest  in  peace,  our  patriot  band  :. 

Though  far  from  Nature's  limits  thrown, 
We  trust  they  find  a  happier  land, 
A  brighter  sunshine  of  their  own. 


184  PATRICK      HENRY, 


PATRICK     HENRY, 

BEFORE    A    CONVENTION    OF    DELEGATES,    VIRGINIA, 

Mr.  Henry  arose  with  a  majesty  unusual  to  him  in  an 
exordium,  and  with  all  that  self-possession  by  which  he  was 
so  invariably  distinguished.  "No  man,"  he  said,  ''thought 
more  highly  than  he  did  of  the  patriotism,  as  well  as  abilities, 
of  the  veiy  worthy  gentleman  who  had  just  addressed  tlie 
house.  But  different  men  often  saw  the  same  subject  in 
different  lights ;  and,  therefore,  he  hoped  it  would  not  ha 
thought  disrespectful  to  those  gentlemen,  if,  entertaining  as 
he  did,  opinions  of  a  character  very  opposite  to  theirs,  he 
should  speak  forth  his  sentiments  freely,  and  without  reserve. 
This  was  no  time  for  ceremony.  The  question  before  the 
house  was  one  of  awful  moment  to  this  country.  For  his 
own  part,  he  considered  it  as  nothing  less  than  a  question  of 
freedom  or  slavery.  And  m  proportion  to  the  magnitude  of 
the  subject,  ought  to  be  the  freedom  of  the  debate.  It  was 
only  in  this  way  that  they  could  hope  to  arrive  at  truth,  and 
fulfil  the  great  responsibility  which  they  held  to  God  and  their 
country.  Should  he  keep  ])ack  his  opinions  at  such  a  time, 
through  fear  of  giving  offence,  he  should  consider  hknself  as 
guilty  of  treason  toward  his  country,  and  of  an  act  of  disloy- 


PATRICK      HENRY.  185 

alty  towards  the  Majesty  of  Heaven,  which  he  revered  above 
all  earthly  kings. 

"  Mr.  President,  it  is  natural  to  man  to  indulge  in  the  illu- 
sions of  hope.  We  are  apt  to  shut  our  eyes  against  a  painful 
truth — and  listen  to  the  song  of  that  syren,  till  she  transforms 
us  into  beasts.  Is  this  the  part  of  wise  men,  engaged  in  a 
great  and  arduous  struggle  for  liberty?  Were  we  disposed 
to  be  of  the  number  of  those,  who  having  eyes,  see  not,  and 
having  ears,  hear  not  the  things  which  so  nearly  concern  their 
temporal  salvation  ?  For  his  part,  whatever  anguish  of  sphit 
it  might  cost,  he  was  willing  to  know  the  whole  truth  ;  to 
know  the  worst ;  and  to  provide  for  it. 

"He  had  but  one  lamp'  by  which  his  feet  were  guided  ;  and 
that  was  the  lamp  of  experience.  He  knew  of  no  way  of 
judging  of  the  future  but  by  the  past.  And,  judging  by  the 
past,  he  wished  to  know  what  there  had  been  in  the  conduct 
of  the  British  ministry,  for  the  last  ten  years,  to  justify  those 
hopes  with  which  gentlemen  had  been  pleased  to  solace  them- 
selves and  the  house  ?  Is  it  that  insidious  smile  with  Avhich 
our  petition  has  been  lately  received  ?  Trust  it  not,  sir  ;  it 
will  prove  a  snare  to  your  feet.  Suffer  not  yourselves  to  be 
betrayed  with  a  kiss.  Ask  yourselves  how  this  gracious 
reception  of  our  petition  comports  with  tliose  warlike  prepara- 
tions which  cover  our  waters  and  darken  our  land.  Are 
fleets  and  armies  necessary  to  a  work  of  love  and  reconcilia- 
tion ?  Have  we  shown  ourselves  so  unwilhng  to  be  recon- 
ciled, that  force  must  be  called  in  to  win  back  our  love  ?  Let 
us  not  deceive  ourselves,  sir.     These  are  the  implements  of 


186  PATRICK      HKXRY. 

war  and  subjugation — the  last  argument  to  which  kings 
resort.  I  ask  gentlemen,  su',  what  means  this  martial  array, 
if  its  purpose  be  not  to  force  us  to  submission  ?  Can  gentle- 
men assign  any  other  possible  motive  for  it?  Has  Great 
Britain  any  enemy  in  this  quarter  of  the  world,  to  call  for  all 
this  accumulation  of  navies  and  armies?  No,  sh',  she  has 
none.  They  are  meant  for  us :  they  can  be  meant  for  no 
other.'  They  are  sent  over  to  bind  and  rivet  upon  us  those 
chains  which  the  British  ministry  have  been  so  long  forging. 
And  what  have  we  to  oppose  to  them  ?  Shall  we  try  argu- 
ment ?  Sir,  we  have  been  trying  that  for  the  last  ten  years. 
Have  we  anything  new  to  offer  upon  the  subject  ?  Nothing. 
We  have  held  the  subject  up  in  every  light  of  which  it  is 
capable ;  but  it  has  been  all  in  vain.  Shall  we  resort  to 
entreaty  and  humble  supplication?  What  terms  shall  we 
find,  which  have  not  been  already  exhausted  ? 

"Let  us  not,  I  beseech  you,  sir,  deceive  ourselves  longer. 
We  have  done  everything  that  could  be  done,  to  avert  the 
storm  which  is  now  coming  on.  We  have  petitioned  ;  we 
have  remonstrated ;  we  have  supplicated  ;  we  have  pros- 
trated om-selves  before  the  throne,  and  have  implored  its 
interposition  to  arrest  the  tyrannical  hands  of  the  ministry 
and  parliament.  Our  petitions  have  been  slighted ;  our 
remonstrances  have  produced  additional  violence  and  insult ; 
our  supplications  have  been  disregarded  ;  and  we  have  been 
spurned,  with  contempt,  from  the  foot  of  the  throne.  In  vain, 
after  these  things,  may  we  indulge  the  fond  hope  of  peace 
and  ^^conciliation.     There  is  no  longer  any  room  for  hope. 


PATRICK      HEXRY.  18T 

If  wc  wisli  to  be  free — if  we  mean  to  preserve  inviolate  tliose 
inestimable  privileges  for  which  we  have  been  so  long  con- 
tending— if  we  mean  not  basely  to  abandon  the  noble  strug- 
gle in  which  we  have  been  so  long  engaged,  and  which  we 
have  pledged  ourselves  never  to  abandon,  until  the  glorious 
object  of  our  contest  shall  be  obtained — we  must  fight ! — I 
repeat  it,  sir,  we  must  fight !  !  An  appeal  to  arms,  and  to 
the  God  of  Hosts,  is  all  that  is  left  us  ! 

"  They  tell  us,  su',  that  we  are  weak — unable  to  cope  with 
so  formidable  an  adversary.  But  when  shall  we  be  stronger  ? 
Will  it  be  the  next  week,  or  the  next  year  ?  Will  it  be  when 
we  are  totally  disarmed,  and  when  a  British  guard  shall  be 
stationed  m  every  house  ?  Shall  we  gather  strength  by  irreso- 
lution and  inaction  ?  Shall  we  acquire  the  means  of  effectual 
resistance  by  lying  supinely  on  our  backs  and  hugging  the 
delusive  phantom  of  hope,  until  our  enemies  have  bound  us, 
hand  and  foot  ?  Sir,  we  are  not  weak,  if  we  make  a  proper 
use  of  th(  se  means  which  the  God  of  nature  hath  placed  in 
our  power.  Three  millions  of  people,  armed  in  the  holy  cause 
of  liberty,  and  in  such  a  country  as  that  which  we  possess, 
are  invincible  by  any  force  which  our  enemy,  can  send  against 
us.  Besides,  sir,  we  shall  not  fight  our  battles  alone.  There 
is  a  just  God,  who  presides  over  the  destinies  of  nations,  and 
who  will  raise  up  friends  to  fight  our  battles  for  us.  The 
battle,  sir,  is  not  to  the  strong  alone  ;  it  is  to  the  vigilant, 
the  active,  the  brave.  Besides,  sir,  we  have  no  election.  If 
we  were  base  enough  to  desire  it,  it  is  now  too  late  to  retire 
from  the  contest.     There  is  no  retreat,  but  in  submission  and 


188  PATRICK      HENRY. 

slavery  !  Our  chains  are  for«-ed.  Their  clanking  may  be 
heard  on  the  plains  of  Boston  !  The  war  is  inevitable — and 
let  it  come  !  !  I  repeat  it,  sir,  let  it  come  !  !  I  It  is  in  vain, 
sir,  to  extenuate  the  matter.  Gentlemen  may  cry  peace, 
peace — but  there  is  no  peace.  The  war  is  actually  begun  ! 
The  next  gale  that  sweeps  from  the  north,  will  bring  to  our 
ears  the  clash  of  resounding  arms  !  Our  brethren  are  already 
in  the  iiold  !  Why  stand  we  here  idle  ?  What  is  it  that 
gentlemen  wish  ?  What  would  they  have  ?  Is  life  so  dear, 
or  peace  so  sweet,  as  to  be  purchased  at  the  price  of  chains 
and  slavery  ?  Forbid  it.  Almighty  God  !  I  know  not  what 
course  others  may  take  ;  but  as  for  me,'-  cried  he,  vrith  both 
his  arms  extended  aloft,  his  brows  knit,  every  feature  marked 
with  the  resolute  purpose  of  his  soul,  and  his  voice  swelled 
to  its  boldest  note  of  exclamation — "  give  me  liberty,  or  give 
me  death  ! " 

He  took  his  seat.  No  murmur  of  applause  was  heard. 
The  effect  was  too  deep.  After  the  trance  of  a  moment, 
several  members  started  from  their  seats.  The  cry,  "To  arms  !" 
seemed  to  quiver  on  every  lip,  and  gleam  from  every  eye  I 
Richard  H.  Lee  arose  and  supported  Mr.  Henry,  with  his 
usual  spirit  and  elegance.  But  his  melody  was  lost  amidst 
the  agitation  of  that  ocean,  which  the  master-spu-it  ,of  the 
storm  had  lifted  up  on  high.  That  supernatural  voice  still 
sounded  in  their  ears,  and  shivered  along  their  arteries.  They 
heard,  in  every  pause,  the  cry  of  liberty  or  death.  They 
became  impatient  of  speech — their  souls  were  on  fire  for 
action 


FOURTH      OF      JULY.  189 


FOURTH   OF   JULY. 

BY   J.   PIERPONT. 

Day  of  glory  !  welcome  day  I 
Freedom's  banners  greet  thy  ray  ; 
See  !  how  cheerfully  they  play 

With  thy  morning  breeze, 
On  the  rocks. where  pilgrims  kneel'd, 
Dn  the  heights  where  squadrons  wheel'd, 
When  a  tyrant's  thunder  peal'd 

O'er  the  trembling  seas. 

God  of  armies  !  did  thy  "stars 
In  their  courses"  smite  his  cars, 
Blast  his  arm,  and  wrest  his  bars 

From  the  heaving  tide  ? 
On  our  standard,  lo  !  they  bur;i, 
And,  when  days  like  this  return, 
Sparkle  o'er  the  soldiers'  urn 

Who  for  freedom  died. 

God  of  peace  ! — whose  spu'it  fills 
All  the  echoes  of  our  hills, 
All  the  murmurs  of  our  rills, 
Now  the  storm  is  o'er  : 


190  FOURTH      OF      JULY. 

0,  let  freemen  be  our  sous  ; 
And  let  future  Washingtons 
Rise,  to  lead  their  valiant  ones 
Till  there's  war  no  more. 

By  the  patriot's  hallowed  rest 
By  the  warrior's  gory  breast, 
Never  let  our  graves  be  press'd 

By  a  despot's  throne  ; 
By  the  Pilgrims'  toils  and  cares, 
By  their  battles  and  their  prayerfe, 
By  their  ashes — let  our  heirs 

Bow  to  thee  alone  I 


MARION,      THE      REPUBLICAN      GENE  lAL.  191 


MARIOI^f,  THE  REPUBLICAN  GENERAL. 


We  received,  says  his  biographer,  a  flag  from  the  enemy 
in  Georgetown,  S.  C,  the  object  of  which  was  to  make  some 
arrangements  about  the  exchange  of  prisoners.  The  flag,  after 
the  usual  ceremony  of  bhndfolding,  was  conducted  into  Mar- 
ion's encampment.  When  led  into  Marion's  presence,  and  the 
bandage  taken  from  his  eyes,  he  beheld  in  our  liero  a  swarthy, 
smoke-dried  little  man,  with  scarcely  enough  of  threadbare 
homespun  to  cover  his  nakedness  !  and,  instead  of  tall  ranks 
of  gaily-dressed  soldiers,  a  handful  of  sun-liurnt  yellow  legged 
militia-men,  some  roasting  potatoes,  and  some  asleep,  with 
their  black  firelocks  and  powder-horns  lying  by  them  on  the 
logs.  Having  recovered  a  little  from  his  surprise,  he  pre- 
sented his  letter  to  General  Marion,  who  perused  it  and  soon 
settled  everything  to  his  satisfaction. 

The  officer  took  up  his  hat  to  retire.' — "  Oil  no  V  said 
Marion,  "  it  is  now  about  our  time  of  dining  ;  and  I  hope,  sir, 
you  will  give  us  the  pleasure  of  your  company  to  dimier." 

At  the  mention  of  the  word  dhmer,  the  British  officer 
looked  around  him,  but,  to  liis  great  mortification,  could  see 


102  IfARIOX,     THE      RErURLICAX      GENERAL, 

110  sign  of  a  pot,  pan,  Dutch  oven,  or  any  other  cooking 
utensil,  that  could  raise  the  spirits  of  a  hungry  man. 

"Well,  Tom,"  said  the. general  to  one  of  his  men,  "como, 
give  us  our  dinner." — The  dinner  to  which  he  alluded  was  no 
other  than  a  heap  of  sweet  potatoes,  that  were  very  snugly 
roasting  under  the  embers,  and  which  Tom,  with  his  pine  stick 
poker,  soon  lil)erated  from  their  ashy  confinement,  pinching 
them  every  now  and  then  with  his  fingers,  especially  the  big 
ones,  to  see  v»^liether  they  were  well  done  or  not.  Then,  hav- 
ing cleansed  them  of  the  ashes,  partly  by  blowing  them  with 
his  l^reatli,  and  partly  by  brushing  them  with  the  sleeve  of 
his  old  cotton  shirt,  he  piled  some  of  the  best  on  a  large 
piece  of  bark,  and  placed  them  iDetweeu  the  British  officer  and 
Marion,  ou'  the  trunk  of  the  fallen  pine  on  which  they  sat. 

"  I  fear,  sir,"  said  the  general,  "  our  dinner  will  not  prove 
so  palatable  to  you  as  I  could  wish — but  it  is  the  best  we 
have."  Tlie  officer,  who  was  a  well  bred  man,  took  up  one 
of  the  potatoes,  and  affected  to  feed,  as  if  he  had  found  a 
great  dainty,  but  it  was  very  plain  that  he  ate  more  from 
good  manners  than  good  appetite. 

Presently  he  broke  out  into  a  hearty  laugli :  Marion  looked 
surprised—"  I  beg  pardon,  general,"  said  he,  "  but  one  cannot, 
you  know,  always  command  one's  conceits.  I  was  thinking 
how  droll  some  of  my  brother  officers  would  look,  if  our  gov- 
ernment were  to  give  them  such  a  bill  of  fare  as  tliis.',' 

"I  suppose,"  said  Marion,  "it  is  not  equal  to  their  style  of 
dining;"  "Xo,  indeed,"  quoth  the  officer;  "and  this,  I 
imagine,  i:^  one  of  your  accidental   Lent  dinners^ — a  sort  of 


MARION,     THE      REPUBLICAN     GENERAL.  193 

ban  ijan ;  in  general,  no  doubt,  you  live  a  great  deal  better  V* 
"Rather  worse,"  answered  the  general,  "for  often  we  do  not 
get  enough  of  this."  "  Heavens  !"  rejoined  the  officer,  "  but 
probably  what  you  lose  in  meal  you  make  up  in  malt — though 
stinted  in  provisions,  you  draw  noble  pay."  "Not  a  cent, 
sir,"  said  Marion,  "  not  a  cent."  "  Heavens  and  earth  !  then 
you  must  be  in  a  bad  box  ;  I  don't  see,  general,  how  you  can 
stand  it."  "  Why,  su*,"  replied  Marion  with  a  smile  of  self- 
approbation,  "these  things  depend  on  feehng."  The  English- 
man said,  "  he  did  not  beheve  it  would  be  an  easy  matter  to 
reconcile  his  feelings  to  a  soldier's  life  on  General  Marion's 
terms — all  fighting,  no  pay,  and  no  provisions  but  potatoes." 

"Why  sir,"  answered  the  general,  "the  heart  is  all ;  and 
when  that  is  much  interested,  a  man  can  do  anything.  Many 
a  youth  would  think  it  hard  to  indent  himself  a  slave  for 
fourteen  years  ;  but  let  him  be  over  head  and  ears  in  love, 
and  with  such  a  beauteous  sweetheart  as  Rachel,  and  he  will 
think  no  more  of  fourteen  years'  servitude  than  young  Jacob 
did.  Well,  now,  this  is  exactly  my  case — I  am  in  love,  and 
my  sweetheart  is  Liberty  :  be  that  heavenly  nymph  my  cham- 
pion, and  these  woods  shall  have  charms  beyond  London  and 
Paris  in  slavery.  To  have  no  proud  monarch  diiving  over 
me  with  his  gilt  coaches — nor  his  host  of  excisemen  and  tax- 
gatherers  insulting  and  robbing  :  but  to  be  my  own  master, 
my  own  prmce  and  sovereign — gloriously  preserving  my 
national  dignity,  and  pursuing  my  true  happiness — planting 
my  vineyards,  and  eating  their  luscious  fruit ;  sowing  my 
fields,  and  reaping  the  golden  grain  ;  and  seeing  millions  of 

9 


194  MAKION,     THE      REPUBLICAN      GENERAL. 

brothers  all  around  me  equally  free  and  happy  as  myself. 
This  sir,  is  what  I  long  for." 

The  oflScer  replied,  that  both  as  a  man  and  a  Briton,  he 
must  certainly  subscri]3e  to  this  as  a  happy  state  of  things. 

"Happy,"  quoth  Marion,  "  yes  happy,  indeed  ;  and  I  would 
rather  figlit  for  such  blessings  for  my  country,  and  feed  on 
roots,  than  keep  aloof,  though  wallowing  in  all  the  luxm*ies 
of  Solomon  ;  for  now,  sir,  I  walk  the  soil  that  gave  me  birth, 
and  exult  in  the  thought  that  I  am  not  unworthy  of  it.  I 
look  upon  these  venerable  trees  around  me,  and  feel  that  I  do 
not  dishonor  them — I  think  of  my  o\\ti  sacred  rights,  and 
rerjoice  that  I  have  not  basely  deserted  them.  And,  when  I 
look  forward  to  the  long,  long  ages  of  posterity,  I  glory  in  the 
thought  that  I  am  fighting  their  battles.  The  children  of 
distant  generations  may  never  hear  my  name,  but  still  it  glad- 
dens my  heart  to  think  that  I  am  now  contending  for  their 
freedom,  with  all  its  countless  blessings." 

I  looked  at  Marion  as  he  uttered  these  sentkuents,  and 
fancied  I  felt  as  when  I  heard  the  last  words  of  the  brave 
De  Kald ;  the  Englishman  hung  his  honest  head,  and  looked, 
I  thought,  as  if  he  had  seen  the  upbraiding  ghosts  of  his 
illustrious  countrymen,  Sidney  and  Hampden. 

On  his  return  to  Georgetown  he  was  asked  by  Colonel 
Watson,  why  he  looked  so  serious ?  "I  have  cause,  sir,"  said 
he,  "  to  look  so  serious."  "  What !  has  General  Marion  refused 
to  treat  ?"  "  No  su*."  "  Well,  then,  has  old  Washington 
defeated  Sir  Heniy  Clinton,  and  broke  up  our  army  ?"  "  Xo, 
sir,  not  that  either  :  bu   worse."     "  Ah  !  what  can  be  Avorse?'' 


NATIVE      LAND.  195 

"  Why,  sir,  I  have  seen  an  American  general  and  his  officers 
without  pay,  almost  without  clothes,  living  on  roots,  and 
drinking  water,  and  all  for  Liberty !  What  chance  have  we 
against  such  men." 


NATIVE    LAND. 

The  wandering  mariner,  whose  eye  explores 
The  wealthiest  isles,  the  most  enchanting  shores, 
Views  not  a  realm  so  beautiful  and  fair, 
Nor  breathes  the  fragrance  of  a  purer  air  ; 
In  every  clime  the  magnet  of  his  soul, 
Touched  by  remembrance,  trembles  to  that  pole. 


]  06      warren's    address    to    his    soldiers. 


WAREEN'S  ADDRESS  TO  HIS  SOLDIERS. 

BEFORE      THE      BATTLE      OF      BUNKER     HILL. 

Stjand  !  the  ground's  your  own,  my  braves  I 
Will  ye  give  it  up,  to  slaves  ? 
Will  ye  look  for  gi-eener  graves  ? 

Hope  ye  mercy  still  ? 
What's  the  mercy  despots  feel  ? 
Hear  it  in  that  battle  peal ; 
Read  it  on  yon  bristling  steel  ; 

Ask  it  ye  who  will. 

Fear  ye  foes  who  kill  for  hire  ? 
Will  ye  to  your  homes  retire  ? 
Look  behind  you — they're  on  fire  ! 

And  before  you  see 
Who  have  done  it !     From  the  vale 
On  they  come — and  will  ye  quail  ? 
Leaden  rain  and  iron  hail, 

Let  their  welcome  be  1 

In  the  God  of  battles  trust, 
Die  we  may — and  die  we  must ; 
But,  0  where  can  dust  to  dust 
Be  consigned  so  well 


warren's    address    to    his    soldiers.      197 

As  where  Heaven  its  clews  shall  shed 
On  the  martyi'ed  patriot's  bed, 
And  the  rocks  shall  raise  then*  head 
Of  his  deeds  to  tell ! 


Carolina,  Carolina  I     Heaven's  blessings  attend  her  ! 
While  we  live  we  will  cherish,  and  love,  and  defend  her. 
Tho'  the  scomer  may  sneer  at,  and  Avitlings  defame  her, 
Our  hearts  swell  with  gladness  whenever  we  name  her  ! 


198  AMERICAN      WOMEN. 


AMERICAN    WOMEJf. 


FROM   THE  NEW    YORK   MIRROR. 


Standing  in  his  noble  park  at  Ashland,  Henry  Clay  once 
said  to  a  friend  who  w^as  praising  the  "  tall"  things  of  Ken- 
tucky— "  Yes,  sir  !  We  have  tall  trees,  tall  horses,  and  tall 
men — but,  sh,  taller  than  all  these  are  the  women  of  Kentucky !" 
Eloquent  eulogist  and  most  competent  judge — never  uttered 
his  lips  a  braver  truth.  And  wiiat  he  said  of  the  women  of 
Kentucky  may  be  said  of  American  women,  take  them  all 
together.  Beautiful,  intelhgent,  virtuous,  industrious,  and  if 
need  be  heroic,  they  challenge  to  comparison  the  perfections 
of  their  sisterhood  of  w^iatever  land  or  clime. 

Not  among  the  Circassian  hills,  where  the  lord  of  the 
harem  hunts  his  concubine  ;  nor  in  sunnier  Italy,  nor  by  the 
hearths  of  the  golden-haired,  "blue-eyed  nations  of  the 
North"  are  there  fairer  women — and  in  all  the  w^orld  are 
there  none  so  gentle  and  brave.  Women  of  other  nations 
are  of  orders  of  beauty  and  virtue — American  women,  com- 
posite in  their  graces  and  charms,  cluster  all  the  orders  and 
blend,  in  themselves,  the  perfections  of  their  sex.  Not  like 
ours,  were  the  women  of  France,  or  Napoleon  would  not, 
when  Madame  de  Stael  asked — "  What  does  France  most 
w^ant  ?"  have  replied,  "France  wants  good  mothers!"     The 


Ene.iavBd'by  Bics  (ScBra'-'- 


AMERICAN       WOMEN.  199 

answer  was  a  bitter  sarcasm  to  the  unfruitful  querist ;  but  it 
w^as,  also,  if  not  an  insulting  libel,  a  sad  confession  for  "  La 
Belle"  France. 

American  w^omen  may  have  had  prototypes,  but  they  were 
individual  or  in  isolate  groups,  and  not  the  sex  of  whole 
nations  or  races.  Woman  has  never  failed,  since  the  world 
began,  to  illustrate,  in  instances,  the  glory  of  her  nature, 
— never  ceased  to  manifest  the  divine  in  the  human.  With 
the  regal  Esther,  yearning  to  bless  her  enslaved  kindred, 
and  the  fiHal-love  inspired  daughter,  who  suckled  her  grey- 
haired  father  through  a  prison's  bars,  there  have  not  been 
parallels  wanting,  in  all  ages,  to  prove  that  the  angels  of 
God  still  w^andered  on  earth,  to  remind  man  of  Eden,  and 
give  him  a  foretaste  of  heaven. 

It  w^as  not  Semiramis  and  Zenobia,  wTiting  their  names  in 
blood  ;  not  Aspasia,  corrupting  Athens  and  making  Greece 
drunk  \vith  the  wine  of  her  sensuous  charms  ;  not  Cleopatra, 
Egypt's  beautiful  and  the  world's  most  shameless  courtesan — • 
nay  I  none  of  these,  famous  through  their  unwomanliness  and 
infamy,  were  illustrators  of  the  glory  of  their  sex — none  of 
these  tyi^ed  American  women.  Their  type  was,  rather, 
Penelope,  weaving  amid  her  maidens  through  weary  years  the 
web  that  shielded  her  virtue,  until  her  royal  husband  returned 
from  his  wanderings  and  wars  to  gladden,  her  heart ;  or, 
courteous  Rebecca,  at  the  well  ;  or,  timid  Ruth,  gleaning  in 
the  field  ;  or,  nobler  still,  the  Roman  Cornelia,  who,  taunted 
in  Rome's  decaying  age  by  rivals  with  her  poverty,  held  up 
her  virtuous  children,  exclaiming — "  These  are  my  jewels  !" 


200  A  M  E  R I  C  A  X      WOMEN. 

Fit  woman  to  have  been  the  "  mother  of  the  Gracchi,"  and 
like  whom,  had  all  Roman  mothers  been,  Rome  might  to  this 
dny  have  boasted  an  unbroken  progeny  of  heroes. 

The  stamina  of  a  nation  depends  on  the  character  of  its 
women.  If  the  mothers  are  intelligent  and  virtuous  ;  if  they 
teach  nobly — the  daughters  modesty,  industry,  simplicity,  and 
truth,  and  the  sons,  justice,  honor,  and  patriotism — poverty, 
bondage,  and  shame,  can  never  come  upon  the  land  of  which 
the  children  of  such  mothers  are  the  most  enduring  basis  and 
bulwark. 

Thank  God,  the  generation  that  planted  the  wilderness  of 
the  New  World  with  the  seeds  of  surpassing  empire — an  em- 
pire now  radiant  with  light  and  liberty — had  such  mothers. 
Then*  sons  and  daughters  were  the  precious  freight  of  the 
"  Speedwell  "  and  the  "  Mayflower,"  and  from  the  landing 
at  Plymouth,  through  the  centuries  of  peril  and  sacrifice,  by 
which  our  fathers  conquered  the  wilderness,  the  savage,  and 
the  bitter  father-land  oppressor — giving  us  wealth  and  fame 
when  they  had  only  poverty  and  obscurity — the  race  of  noble 
American  mothers  has  been  preserved.  Mothers,  and  sisters, 
and  wives,  and  daughters,  unsurpassed !  Mothers  who 
taught  their  sons  to  worship  God,  to  love  then*  country,  and 
to  honor  manhood  ;  who  led  them  to  the  altars  of  religion, 
and  cheered  them  with  brave  hearts  to  the  battle-field,  buck- 
ling the  shield  to  each  young  hero's  arm,  bidding  him  return 
victoriously  with,  or  honorably  dead  upon  it. 

Are  we  grateful  enough,  and  proud  enough  ot  the  memory 
of  such  mothers  ?     Do  we  realize  how  much  we  owe  of  our 


AMERICAN      WOMEN.  201 

national  greatness  and  glory  to  them  ?  Do  we  ask  ourselves 
if  their  virtues  are  emulated  and  perpetuated  in  all  the  land  ? 
It  were  well  if  we  did  ;  for  if  it  be  not  so,  the  sap  begins  to 
dry  at  the  nation's  root,  and  the  most  vital  element  of  our 
endurance  and  strength  will  gradually  pass  away,  leaving 
the  tree  of  Freedom,  under  which  the  world  has  promise 
of  shelter,  rotten  in  the  trunk  and  withered  in  all  its 
branches. 

God  forbid  that  American  women  should  degenerate  from 
what  their  noble  mothers  were,  in  the  yoimg  days  of  the 
New  World  and  of  the  Repubhc.  Better  there  never  were  a 
luxury  or  refinement — save  the  luxury  of  virtuous  mtelligence, 
and  honest,  independent  industry,  and  the  refinement  that 
scorns  every  corrupting  guilt — never  a  "  princely  "  equipage, 
drawing-room,  or  boudoir,  than  that  the  land  should  cease  to 
boast  a  race  of  women,  who  could  dare  the  severest  trials  and 
sacrifices,  were  the  nation's  liberty  imperilled,  or  furnish 
matrons  and  maidens,  ready  to  turn  their  petticoats  into 
cartridges,  or,  like  "  Moll  Pitcher,"  at  Trenton,  "  stand  to 
the  gun,"  when  husband,  brother,  sou,  or  lover  had  fallen, 
leaving  no  comrades  to  fill  their  places. 

A  noble  race  are  American  women — -God  forbid  that  they 
should  cease  to  be  such.  Nor  will  they,  so  long  as  they  are 
taught  that  the  truest  beauty,  grace,  and  glory  of  woman,  lie 
in  her  intelligence,  simplicity,  and  vh-tue.  Teach  her  to  love 
home  and  country,  to  honor  parents  and  old  age,  to  practise 
industry,  and  to  respect  sacred  things  ;  in  short,  educate  her 

as  a  daughter  fi  'ly  to  become  the  wife  of  a  freeman  and  the 

9* 


202  AMERICAN      WOMEN. 

mother  of  freemen,  and  ages  hence,  as  now,  she  will  eclipse 
her  sex  in  all  the  world.  God  bless  American  women,  and 
preserve  to  them  for  ever  the  virtues  and  graces  of  their 
glorious  mothers. 


Wert  thou  all  that  I  wish  thee,  great,  glorious  and  free, 
First  flower  of  the  earth,  and  first  gem  of  the  sea, 
I  might  hail  the  with  prouder,  with  happier  brow, 
But  oh  !   :ould  I  love  thee  more  deeply  than  now  ? 


LANDING      OF      THE      PILGRIMS.  203 


LANDING   OF   THE    PILGRIMS. 


The  breaking  waves  dashed  high 
On  a  stern  and  rock-bound  coast, 

And  the  woods  against  a  stormy  sky, 
Their  giant  branches  tossed  ; 

And  the  heavy  night  hung  dark 

The  hills  aud  waters  o'er, 
When  a  band  of  exiles  moored  their  bark 

On  the  wild  New  England  shore. 

Not  as  the  conqueror  comes, 

They,  the  true-hearted,  came, 
Not  with  the  roll  of  the  stirring  drums, 

And  the  trumpet  that  sings  of  fame. 

Not  as  the  flying  come. 

In  silence,  and  in  fear  ; 
They  shook  the  depths  of  the  desert's  gloom 

With  their  hymns  of  lofty  cheer. 

Amidst  the  storm  they  sang. 

And  the  stars  heard,  and  the  sea  ; 

And  the  sounding  aisles  of  the  dim  woods  rang 
To  the  anthem  of  the  free. 


204  LANDIVa      OF      THE       PILGRIMS 

The  ocean  eagle  soared 

From  his  nest  by  the  white  wave's  foam, 
And  the  rocking  pines  of  the  forest  roared  ; 

This  was  their  welcome  home. 

There  were  men  with  hoary  hair, 

Amid  that  pilgrim  band, 
Why  had  they  come  to  wither  there, 

Away  from  then*  childhood's  land  ? 

There  was  woman's  fearless  eye, 

Lit  by  her  deep  love's  truth  ; 
There  was  manhood's  brow,  serenely  high, 

And  the  fiery  heart  of  youth. 

What  sought  they  thus  afar  ? 

Bright  jewels  of  the  mine  ? 
The  wealth  of  seas,  the  spoils  of  war  ? 

They  sought  a  faith's  pure  shrine  ! 

Aye,  call  it  holy  ground, 
The  soil  where  first  they  trod  ! 

They  have  left  unstained  what  there  they  found- 
Freedom  to  worship  God  1 


REJOICINGS     ON    REPEAL    OF     STAMP    ACT.         205 


REJOICmGS  ON  REPEAL  OF  STAMP  ACT. 

BY  HON.    GEORGE   BANCROFT. 

The  joy  was,  for  a  time,  unmixed  witri  apprehension. 
South  Carolina  voted  Pitt  a  statue  ;  and  Yirginia  a  statue 
to  the  king,  and  an  obelisk,  on  which  were  to  be  engraved 
the  names  of  those  who,  in  England,  had  signalized  them- 
selves for  freedom.  "  My  thanks  they  shall  have  cordially," 
said  Washington,  "  for  their  opposition  to  any  act  of  oppres- 
sion." The  consequences  of  enforcing  the  Stamp  Act,  he 
was  convinced  "  would  have  been  more  direful  than  usually 
apprehended." 

Otis,  at  a  meeting  at  the  Town  Hall  in  Boston,  to  fix  a 
time  for  the  rejoicings,  told  the  people  that  the  distinction 
between  inland  taxes  and  port  duties  was  without  foundation  ; 
for  whoever  had  a  right  to  impose  the  one,  had  a  right  to 
impose  the  other ;  and,  therefore,  as  the  parhament  had  given 
up  the  one,  they  had  given  up  the  other  ;  and  the  merchants 
were  fools  if  they  submitted  any  longer  to  the  laws  restrain- 
ing their  trade,  which  ought  to  be  free. 

A  bright  day  in  May  was  set  apart  for  the  display  of  the 
public  gladness,  and  the  spot  where  resistance  to  the  Stamp 
Act  began,  was  the  centre  of  attraction,  At  one  in  the 
morning  the  bell  nearest  Liberty  Tree  was  the  first  to  be 


20G     REJOICINGS     ON     REPEAL     OF     STAMP    ACT. 

rung  ;  at  dawn,  colors  and  pendants  rose  over  the  housetops 
all  around  it ;  and  the  steeple  of  the  nearest  meeting-house 
was  hung  with  banners.  During  the  day  all  prisoners  for 
debt  were  released  by  subscription.  In  the  evening  the  town 
shone  as  though  night  had  not  come  ;  an  obelisk  on  the  Com- 
mon was  brilliant  with  a  loyal  inscription  ;  the  houses  round 
Liberty  Ti*ee  exhibited  illuminated  figures,  not  of  the  king- 
only,  but  of  Pitt,  and  Camden,  and  Barre  ;  and  Liberty  Tree 
itself  was  decorated  with  lanterns,  till  its  boughs  could  hold 
no  more. 

All  the  wisest  agreed  that  disastrous  consequences  would 
have  ensued  from  the  attempt  to  enforce  the  Act,  so  that 
never  was  there  a  more  rapid  transition  of  a  people  from 
gloom  to  joy.  They  compared  themselves  to  a  bird  escaped 
from  the  net  of  the  fowler,  and  once  more  striking  its  wings 
freely  in  the  upper  air  ;  or  to  Joseph,  the  Israelite,  whom 
Providence  had  hkewise  wonderfully  redeemed  from  the  per- 
petual bondage  into  which  he  was  sold  by  his  elder  brethren. 

The  clergy  from  the  pulpit  joined  in  the  fervor  of  patriot- 
ism and  the  joy  of  success.  "  The  Americans  would  not  have 
submitted,"  said  Chauncey.  "  History  affords  few  examples 
of  a  more  general,  generous,  and  just  sense  of  liberty  in  any 
country  than  has  appeared  in  America  within  the  year  past." 
Such  were  Mayhew's  words  ;  and  while  all  the  continent  was 
calling  out  and  cherishing  the  name  of  Pitt,  the  greatest 
statesman  of  England,  the  conqueror  of  Canada  and  the  Ohio, 
the  founder  of  empire,  the  apostle  of  freedom  ; — "  To  you," 
said  Mayhew,  speaking  from  the  heart  of  the  people,  and  as 


OUR      COUNTRY.  207 

if  its  voice  could  be  heard  across  the  ocean,  "  to  you  grateful 
America  attributes  that  she  is  reinstated  in  her  former  liber- 
ties. The  universal  joy  of  America,  blessing  you  as  our 
father,  and  sending  up  ardent  vows  to  heaven  for  you,  must 
give  you  a  sublime  and  truly  godhke  pleasure  ;  it  might,  per- 
haps, give  you  spirits  and  vigor  to  take  up  your  bed  and  walk, 
like  those  cured  by  the  word  of  Him  who  came  from  heaven 
to  make  us  free  indeed.  America  calls  you  over  and  over 
again  her  father  ;  live  long  in  health,  happiness,  and  honor. 
Be  it  late  when  you  must  cease  to  plead  the  cause  of  liberty 
on  earth." 


OUR    COUNTRY. 

Our  country  first,  our  glory  and  our  pride. 
Land  of  our  hopes — land  where  our  fathers  died, 
When  in  the  right,  we'll  keep  thy  honor  bright ; 
When  in  the  wrong,  we'll  die  to  set  it  right. 


208  ANTIQUITY      OF      FREEDOM. 


ANTIQUITY  OF   FREEDOM, 

BY   W.   C.   BRYANT. 

Here  are  old  trees,  tall  oaks,  and  gnarled  pines, 
That  stream  with  grey-green  mosses  ;  here  the  gromid 
Was  never  touch'd  by  spade,  and  flowers  spring  up 
Unsown,  and  die  ungather'd.     It  is  sweet 
To  linger  hei  e,  among  the  flitting  birds 
And  leaping  squirrels,  wandering  brooks  and  winds 
That  shake  the  leaves,  and  scatter  as  they  pass 
A  fragrance  from  the  cedar  thickly  set 
With  pale  blue  berries.     In  these  peaceful  shades — 
Peaceful,  unpruned,  unmeasurably  old — 
My  thoughts  go  up  the  long  dim  path  of  years, 
Back  to  the  earliest  days  of  Liberty. 

O  Freedom  !  thou  art  not  as  poets  dream, 
A  fak  young  gu-1,  with  light  and  dehcate  lin^os, 
And  wavy  tresses  gushing  from  the  cap 
With  which  the  Roman  master  crown'd  his  slave, 
When  he  took  off  the  gyves.     A  bearded  man, 
Arm'd  to  the  teeth,  art  thou :  one  mailed  hand 
Grasps  the  broad  shield,  and  one  the  sword  ;  thy  brow, 
Glorious  in  beauty  though  it  be,  is  scarr'd 
With  tokens  of  old  wars  ;  thy  massive  limbs 


ANTIQUITY     OF     FREEDOM.  209 

Are  strong  and  struggling.     Power  at  thee  has  laimch'd 

His  bolts,  and  with  his  lightnings  smitten  thee  ; 

Thej  could  not  quench  the  life  thou  hast  from  Heaven. 

Merciless  Power  has  dug  thy  dungeon  deep, 

And  his  swart  armorers,  by  a  thousand  fires, 

Have  forged  thy  chain  ;  yet  while  he  deems  thee  bound, 

The  links  are  shiver'd,  and  the  prison  walls 

Fall  outward  ;  terribly  thou  springest  forth. 

As  springs  the  flame  above  a  burning  pile, 

And  shoutest  to  the  nations,  who  return 

Thy  shoutings,  while  the  pale  oppressor  flies. 

Thy  bh'th-right  was  not  given  by  human  hands  : 
Thou  wert  twin-born  with  man.     In  pleasant  fields, 
While  yet  our  race  was  few,  thou  sat'st  with  him, 
To  tend  the  quiet  flock  and  watch  the  stars. 
And  teach  the  reed  to  utter  simple  airs. 
Thou  by  his  side,  amid  the  tangled  wood. 
Didst  war  upon  the  panther  and  the  wolf, 
His  only  foes  ;  and  thou  with  hun  didst  draw 
The  earliest  furrows  on  the  mountain  side, 
Soft  with  the  Deluge.     Tyranny  himself, 
The  enemy,  although  of  reverend  look, 
Hoary  with  many  years,  and  far  obey'd. 
Is  later  born  than  thou  ;  and  as  he  meets 
The  grave  defiance  of  thine  elder  eye. 
The  usurper  trembles  hi  his  fastnesses. 

Thou  shalt  wax  stronger  with  the  lapse  of  years, 
But  he  shall  fade  mto  a  feebler  age  ; 


210  ANTIQUITY      Ol-       FREEDOM. 

Feebler,  yet  subtler  ;  be  shall  weave  Ms  suares, 

Aud  spring  them  on  thy  careless  steps,  and  clap 

His  wither'd  hands,  and  from  their  ambush  call 

His  hordes  to  fall  upon  thee.     He  shall  send 

Quaint  maskers,  forms  of  fair  and  gallant  mien, 

To  catch  thy  gaze,  and  uttermg  graceful  words 

To  charm  thy  ear ;  while  his  sly  imps,  by  stealth, 

Twine  round  thee  threads  of  steel,  light  thread  on  thread. 

That  grow  to  fetters  or  bind  down  thy  arms 

With  chains  conceal'd  in  chaplets.     Oh  !  not  yet 

Mayst  thou  unbrace  thy  corslet,  nor  lay  by 

Thy  sword  ;  nor  yet,  0  Freedom  !  close  thy  lids 

In  slumber ;  for  thine  enemy  never  sleeps. 

And  thoii  must  watch  and  combat,  till  the  day 

Of  the  new  Earth  and  Heaven.     But  wouldst  ihou  rest 

Awhile  from  tumult  and  the  fi-auds  of  men. 

These  old  and  friendly  solitudes  invite 

Thy  visit.     They,  while  yet  the  forest  trees 

Were  young  upon  the  unviolated  earth, 

And  yet  the  moss-stains  on  the  rock  were  new, 

Beheld  thy  glorious  childhood,  and  rejoiced. 


ENTERPRISE      AND      BOXER.  211 


ENTERPRISE    AND   BOXER. 


On  the  1st  of  September,  the  Enterprise,  Captain  Bur- 
roughs, sailed  from  Portsmouth  on  a  cruise.  On  the  5th, 
early  in  the  morning,  they  espied  a  l^rig  in-shore,  getting 
under  way.  They  reconnoitered  her  for  awhile  to  ascertain 
her  character,  of  which  they  were  soon  informed  by  her  hoist- 
ing three  British  ensigns,  and  firmg  a  shot  as  a  challenge. 
The  Enterprise  then  hauled  upon  a  wind,  stood  out  of  the 
bay,  and  prepared  for  action.  A  calm  for  some  time  delayed 
the  encounter  ;  it  was  succeeded  by  a  breeze  from  the  south- 
west, which  gave  our  vessel  the  weather-gage.  After  manceu- 
vering  for  a  while  to  the  windward,  in  order  to  try  her  sailing 
with  the  enemy,  and  to  ascertain  his  force,  the  Enterprise, 
about  three,  p.  m.,  shortened  sail,  hoisted  three  ensigns, 
fired  a  gun,  tacked  and  ran  down  with  an  intention  to  bring 
liim  to  close  quarters.  When  within  half  pistol-shot,  the 
enemy  gave  three  cheers,  and  commenced  the  action  with  his 
starboard  broadside.  The  cheers  and  the  broadside  were 
returned  on  our  part,  and  the  action  l^ecame  general.  In 
about  five  minutes  after  the  battle  had  commenced,  the  gal- 
lant Burroughs  received  a  rausket-]')a]l  in  liis  body  and  fell  ; 


212  ENTERPRISE      AXD      BOXER. 

he,  however,  refused  to  be  carried  })elow,  but  contmued  on  deck 
through  the  action.  The  active  command  was  then  taken  by- 
Lieutenant  McCall,  who  conducted  hunself  with  great  skill 
and  coolness.  The  enemy  was  out-manoeuvered  and  cut  up  ; 
his  main-top-mast  and  topsail-yard  shot  away ;  a  position 
gained  on  his  starboard  bow,  and  a  raking  fire  kept  up,  until 
Ms  guns  were  silenced  and  he  cried  for  quarter,  saying  that 
as  his  colors  w^ere  nailed  to  the  mast  he  could  not  haul  them 
down.  The  prize  proved  to  be  his  Britannic  majesty's  brig 
Boxer,  of  fourteen  guns.  The  number  of  her  crew  is  a  matter 
of  conjecture  and  dispute. 

We  turn  gladly  from  such  an  idle  discussion  to  notice  the 
last  moments  of  the  w^orthy  Burroughs.  There  needs  no 
elaborate  pencil  to  impart  pathos  and  grandeur  to  the  death 
of  a  brave  man.  The  simple  anecdotes,  given  in  simple  terms 
by  his  surviving  comrades,  present  more  striking  pictures  than 
could  be  wrought  up  by  the  most  refined  attempts  of  art. 
"  At  twenty  minutes  past  three  p.  m.,"  says  one  account, 
"our  brave  commander  fell,  and  while  lying  on  the  deck, 
refusing  to  be  carried  below,  raised  his  head  and  requested 
that  the  Jlag  might  never  be  struck"  In  this  situation  he 
remamed  during  the  rest  of  the  engagement,  regardless  of 
bodily  pain  ;  regardless  of  the  life-blood  fast  ebbing  from  his 
wound  ;  watching  with  anxious  eye  the  vicissitudes  of  battle  ; 
cheering  his  men  by  his  voice,  but  animating  them  still  more 
by  his  glorious  example.  When  the  sword  of  the  vanquished 
enemy  was  presented  to  him,  we  are  told  that  he  clasped  his 
hands  and  exclaimed,  "I  j>::    satisfied,  I  die  contented."     He 


THE      PILGRIM      FATHERS.  213 

now  permitted  himself  to  be  earned  below,  and  the  necessary 
attentions  were  paid  to  save  his  live,  or  alleviate  his  sufiferings. 
His  wound,  however,  was  beyond  the  power  of  surgery,  and 
he  breathed  his  last  within  a  few  hours  after  the  victory. 


THE   PILGRIM   FATHERS. 

BY  W.   H.  BURLEIGH. 

Bold  men  were  they,  and  true,  that  pilgrim  band, 

Who  plough'd  with  venturous  prow  the  stormy  sea, 

Seeking  a  home  for  hunted  Liberty 
Amid  the  ancient  forests  of  a  land 
Wild,  gloomy,  vast,  magnificently  grand  I 

Friends,  country,  hallow'd  homes  they  left,  to  be 
Pilgrhns  for  Christ's  sake,  to  a  foreign  strand — 

Beset  by  peril,  worn  with  toil,  yet  free ! 
Tkeless  in  zeal,  devotion,  labor,  hope  ; 

Constant  in  faith  ;  in  justice  how  severe  ! 

Though  fools  deride  and  bigot-skeptics  sneer, 
Praise  to  their  names  !    If  call'd  like  them  to  cope, 

In  evil  times,  with  dark  and  evil  powers, 

0,  be  their  faith,  their  zeal,  their  coui'age  ours  I 


214   IT  IS  GREAT  FOR  OUR  COUNTRY  TO  DIE. 


ir  IS  GREAT  FOR  OUR  COUNTRY  TO  DIE. 

BY  J.  G.  PERCIYAL. 

01  IT  is  great  for  our  country  to  die,  where  ranks  are  con- 
tending : 
Bright  is  the  wreath  of  our  fame ;   Glory  awaits  us  for 
aye— 
Grlory,  that  never  is  dim,  shining  on  with  light  never  ending — 
Glory  that  never  shall  fade,  never,  0  !  never  away. 

O  !  it  is  sweet  for  our  country  to  die — how  softly  reposes 
Warrior  youth  on  his  bier,  wet  by  the  tears  of  his  love, 
Wet  by  a  mother's  warm  tears  ;  they  crown  him  with  garlands 
of  roses. 
Weep,  and  then  joyously  turn,  bright  where  he  triumphs 
above. 

Not  to  the  shades  shall  the  youth  descend,  who  for  country 
hath  perish'd 
Hebe  awaits  him  in  heaven,  welcomes  him  there  with  her 
smile  ; 
There  at  the  banquet  divine,  the  patriot  spirit  is  cherish'd  ; 
Gods  love  the  young,  who  ascend  pure  from  the  funeral 
pile. 


IT  IS  GREAT  FOR  OUR  COUNTRY  TO  DIE.   215 

iNot  to  E]\  sian  fields,  by  the  still,  oblivious  river  ; 

Xot  to  the  isles  of  the  bless'd,  over  the  blue,  rolling  sea  ; 
But  on  Olympian  heights,  shall  dwell  the  devoted  for  ever  ; 

There  shall  assemble  the  good,  there  the  wise,  valiant,  and 
free. 

O  !  then,  how  great  for  our  country  to  die,  in  the  front  rank 
to  perish, 
Firm  with  our  breast  to  the  foe.  Victory's  shout  m  our  ear  : 
Long  they  our  statues  shall  crown,  in  songs  our  memory 
cherish ; 
We  shall  look  forth  from  our  heaven,  pleased  the  sweet 
music  to  hear. 


216  DICEY      LANGSTON. 


DICEY    LAi\GSTON 


Dicey  Laxgston  was  the  daughter  of  Solomon  Langston, 
of  Laurens  District,  South  Carolina.  She  possessed  an 
intrepid  spirit,  which  is  highly  serviceable  in  times  of  emer- 
gency, and  which,  as  she  lived  in  the  days  of  the  Revolution, 
she  had  more  than  one  opportunity  to  display.  Situated  in 
the  midst  of  Tories,  and  being  patriotically  inquisitive,  she 
often  learned  by  accident,  or  discovered  by  strategy,  the 
plottings,  so  common  in  those  days,  agamst  the  Whigs. 
Such  intelligence  she  was  accustomed  to  communicate  to 
the  friends  of  fi'eedom  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  Ennoree 
River. 

Learning  one  time  that  a  band  of  loyalists — known  in 
those  days  as  the  "  bloody  scout " — were  about  to  fall  upon 
the  "  Elder  Settlement,"  a  place  where  a  brother  of  hers  and 
other  friends  were  residing,  she  resolved  to  warn  them  of 
their  danger.  To  do  this  she  must  hazard  her  own  life.  But 
oflf  she  started,  alone,  in  the  darkness  of  the  night ;  travelled 
several  miles  through  the  woods,  and  over  marshes  and  across 
creeks,  through  a  country  where  foot-logs  and  bridges  were 
then  unknown  ;  came  to  the  Tyger,  a  rapid  uuCi  deep  stream, 
into  which  she  plunged,  and  waded  till  the  water  was  up  to 


DICEV      LANGSTON.  217 

her  neck  ;  she  then  became  bewildered,  and  zigzagged  the 
channel  for  some  time  ;  reached  the  opposite  shore  at  length, 
for  a  helpuig  Hand  was  beneath,  a  kind  Providence  guided 
her  ;  hastened  on  ;  reached  the  settlement,  and  her  brother 
and  the  whole  community  were  safe  ! 

She  was  returnhig  one  day  from  another  settlement  of 
Whigs,  in  the  Spartanburg  District,  when  a  company  of 
Tories  met  her  and  questioned  her  in  regard  to  the  neigh- 
borhood she  had  just  left ;  but  she  refused  to  communicate 
the  desh'ed  mformation.  The  leader  of  the  band  then  held  a 
pistol  to  her  breast,  and  threatened  to  shoot  her  if  she  did 
not  make  the  wished  for  disclosure.  "  Shoot  me  if  you 
dare  1  I  will  not  tell  you  !"  was  her  dauntless  reply,  as  she 
opened  a  long  handkerchief  that  covered  her  neck  and  bosom, 
thus  manifesting  a  willingness  to  receive  the  contents  of  the 
pistol,  if  the  officer  insisted  on  disclosures  or  life.  The  das- 
tard, enraged  at  her  defying  movement,  was  in  the  act  of 
firmg,  at  which  moment  one  of  the  soldiers  thi-ew  ud  the 
hand  holding  the  weapon,  and  the  cowerless  heart  of  the  girl 
was  permitted  to  beat  on. 

The  brothers  of  Dicey  were  no  less  patriotic  than  she  ;  and 
they  having,  by  their  active  services  on  the  side  of  freedom, 
greatly  displeased  the  loyalists,  these  latter  were  determined 
to  be  revenged.  A  desperate  band  accordingly  went  to  the 
house  of  their  father,  and  finding  the  sons  absent,  they  were 
about  to  wreak  their  vengeance  on  the  old  man,  whom  they 
hated  for  t-ie  sons'  sake.  With  this  intent  one  of  the  party 
drew  a  pistol  ;  but  just  as  it  was  aimed  at  the  breast  of  her 

10 


218  DICKY      LANGSTON. 

aged  ard  infirm  father,  Dicey  rushed  between  the  two,  and 
though  the  ruffian  bade  her  get  out  of  his  way,  or  receive  in 
licr  own  breast  the  contents  of  the  pistol,  she  regarded  not 
his  threats,  but  flung  her  arms  around  her  father's  neck,  and 
declared  she  would  receiye  the  ball  first,  if  the  weapon  must 
be  discharged.  Such  fearlessness  and  willingness  to  offer 
her  own  life  for  the  sake  of  her  parent,  softened  the  heart  of 
the  "  Ijloody  scout,"  and  Mr.  Langston  lived  to  see  his  noble 
daughter  perform  other  heroic  deeds. 

One  time  her  brother  James,  in  his  absence,  sent  to  the 
house  for  a  gun  which  he  had  left  in  her  care,  with  orders  for 
her  to  dehver  it  to  no  one  except  by  his  directions.  On 
reaching  the  house  one  of  the  company  who  were  dh'ected  to 
call  for  it,  made  known  their  errand,  whereupon  she  brought 
and  was  about  to  deliver  the  weapon.  At  this  moment  it 
occurred  to  her  that  she  had  not  demanded  the  counter- 
vsign  agreed  on  between  herself  and  brother.  With  the  gun 
still  in  her  hand,  she  looked  the  company  sternly  in  the  face, 
and  remarking  that  they  wore  a  suspicious  look,  called  for 
the  countersign.  Hereupon  one  of  them,  in  jest,  told  her 
she  was  too  tardy  in  her  requirements  ;  that  both  the  gun 
and  its  holder  were  in  their  possession.  "  Do  you  think  so  ?" 
she  boldly  asked,  as  she  cocked  the  disputed  weapon  and 
aimed  it  at  the  speaker.  "  If  the  gun  is  in  your  possession,'' 
she  added,  "  take  charge  of  it !"  Her  appearance  indicated 
that  she  was  in  earnest,  and  the  countersign  was  given  with- 
out further  delay.  A  hearty  laugh,  on  the  part  of  the 
"  liberty  mei.,"  ended  the  ceremony. 


THE      VICTORIA     VASE.  219 


THE   VICl  ORIA   VASE, 

tsrON    °v   THE    YACHT    AMERICA,    AT    THE    LATE    RYDE    REGATTA. 

BY  THE  HO.V.  CALEB  LYOX,  OF  LYONSDALK, 

Jn  travel  it  has  been  my  lot 

To  meet  with  curious  things  ; 
The  flags  which  won  a  thousand  fights 

On  battle-fields  of  kings  ; 
The  ancient  flagon  Wallace  wore 

On  Falkirk's  fatal  field, 
The  iron  casque  of  WilHam  Tell, 

And  Hermann's  rusted  shield ; 
The  trusty  blade  of  Bolivar, 

A  ring  from  Cromwell's  hand, 
And  the  covering  of  the  Kaaba  , 

In  Yemen's  happy  land. 
Yet  prouder  beats  my  heart  to-day, 

While  gazing  upon  thee. 
Thou  monolith,  whose  silent  voice 

Records  our  destiny. 
The  Empire  of  the  seas  hath  passed 

Away  from  Albion's  shore  ; 
Columbia  rules  the  ocean  now 

Britannia  ruled  of  vore. 


220  THE      VICTORIA      VASE 

The  Warwick  Vase  is  wondrous  rare,— 

Its  satyrs,  wild  with  mirth, 
Are  types  of  all  that's  beautiful 

And  Bacchanal  on  earth. 
The  Portland  Vase  is  rarer  still, 

For  antiquarian  lore 
Hath  never  solved  the  legends  strange 

Its  sculptured  beauty  bore. 
The  Hebe  Yase,  that  gem  of  all, 

A  type  of  Grecian  mould, 
From  whence  ambrosial  nectar  flowed 

For  Jupiter  of  old. 
But  thou  art  the  Victoria  Vase, 

Never  Etruscan  art 
Produced  an  antique  Hke  to  thee, 

To  stir  a  nation's  heart. 
For  with  thee  passed  the  sea's  domain 

Away  from  Albion's  shore  ; 
Columbia  rules  the  ocean  now 

Britannia  ruled  of  yore. 


SERGEANT      JASPER.  221 


SERGEANT    JASPER. 


The  reader  is  doubtless  already  acquainted  with  the  name 
of  William  Jasper — perhaps  Sergeant  Jasper  is  the  better 
known.  This  brave  man  possessed  remarkable  talents  for  a 
scout.  He  could  wear  all  disguises  with  admirable  ease  and 
dexterity.  Garden  styles  him  "  a  perfect  Proteus."  He  was 
equally  remarkable  for  his  cunning  as  for  his  bravery  ;  and 
his  nobleness  and  generosity  were,  quite  as  much  as  these,  the 
distinguished  traits  of  his  character.  Such  was  the  confi- 
dence in  his  fidelity  and  skill  that  a  roving  commission  was 
granted  him,  with  Uberty  to  pick  his  associates  from  the 
brigade.  Of  these  he  seldom  chose  more  than  six.  "  He 
often  went  out,"  says  Moultrie,  "  and  returned  with  prisoners, 
before  I  knew  that  he  was  gone.  I  have  known  of  his 
catching  a  party  that  was  looking  for  him.  He  has  told  me 
that  he  could  have  killed  single  men  several  times,  but  he 
would  not  ;  he  would  rather  let  them  get  off.  He  went  into 
the  British  lines  at  Savannah,  as  a  deserter,  complaining,  at 
the  same  time,  of  our  ill-usages  of  him  ;  he  was  gladly 
received  (they  having  heard  of  his  character)  and  caressed  by 
them      He  stayed  eight  days,  and  after  informing  himself 


222  SERGEANT      JASPER. 

well  of  their  strength,  situation  and  intentions,  he  returned  to 
us  again  ;  but  that  game  he  could  not  play  a  second  time. 
With  his  little  party  he  was  always  hovering  about  the 
enemy's  camp,  and  was  frequently  bringing  in  prisoners."  It 
was  while  in  the  exercise  of  his  roving  privileges  that  Jasper- 
prepared  to  visit  the  post  of  the  enemy  at  Ebenezer.  At  thic 
post  he  had  a  brother,  who  held  the  same  rank  in  the  British 
service,  that  he  held  in  the  American.  This  instance  was 
quite  too  common  in  the  history  of  the  period  and  country, 
to  occasion  much  surprise,  or  cause  any  suspicion  of  the  mte- 
grity  of  either  party.  We  have  already  considered  the  causes 
for  this  melancholy  difierence  of  individual  sentiment  in  the 
country,  and  need  not  dwell  upon  them  here.  William  Jasper 
loved  his  brother  and  wished  to  see  him  :  it  is  very  certain, 
at  the  same  time,  that  he  did  not  deny  himself  the  privilege 
of  seeing  all  around  him.  The  Tory  was  alarmed  at  Wil- 
liam's appearance  in  the  British  camp,  but  the  other  quieted 
his  fears,  by  representing  himself  as  no  longer  an  American 
soldier.  He  checked  the  joy  which  this  declaration  excited 
in  his  brother's  mind,  by  assuring  him  that,  though  he  found 
little  encouragement  in  fighting  for  his  country,  "  he  had  not 
the  heart  to  fight  against  her."  Our  scout  lingered  for  two 
or  three  days  in  the  British  camp,  and  then,  by  a  ietoui-, 
regained  that  of  the  Americans  ;  reporting  to  his  commander 
all  that  he  had  seen.  He  was  encouraged  to  repeat  his  visit 
a  few  weeks  after,  but  this  time  he  took  with  hun  a  comrade, 
one  Sergeant  Newton,  a  fellow  quite  as  brave  in  spirit,  and 
strong  in  body  as  himself.     Here  he  was  again  well  received 


SERGEANT      JASPER,  223 

by  his  brother,  who  entertamed  the  guests  kmdly  for  several 
days.  Meanwhile,  a  small  party  of  Americans  were  brought 
into  Ebenezer  as  captives,  over  whom  hung  the  danger  of 
"  short  shrift  and  sudden  cord."  They  were  on  their  way  to 
Savannah  for  trial.  They  had  taken  arms  with  the  Britisii, 
as  hundi'eds  more  had  done,  wiien  the  country  was  deemed 
reconquered  ;  but,  on  the  approach  of  the  American  army, 
had  rejoined  their  countrymen,  and  were  now  once  more  at 
the  mercy  of  the  power  with  v/hich  they  had  broken  faith. 
"  It  will  go  hard  with  them,"  said  the  Tory  Jasper  to  his 
Whig  brother  ;  but  the  secret  comment  of  the  other  was, 
"it  shall  go  hard  with  me  j&rst."  There  was  a  woman,  the 
wife  of  one  of  the  prisoners,  who,  with  her  child,  kept  them 
company.  William  Jasper  and  his  friend  were  touched  by 
the  spectacle  of  their  distress  ;  and  they  conferred  together, 
as  soon  as  they  were  alone,  as  to  the  possibility  of  rescuing 
them.  Their  plan  w^as  soon  adopted.  It  was  a  simple  one, 
such  as  naturally  suggests  itself  to  a  hardy  and  magnanhnous 
character.  The  prisoners  had  scarcely  left  the  post  for 
Savannah,  under  a  guard  of  eight  men,  a  sergeant  and  cor- 
poral, when  Jasper  and  his  friend  departed  also,  though  in 
a  different  dii'ection  from  the  guard.  Changing  their  course 
when  secure  from  observation,  they  stretched  across  the 
country  and  followed  the  footsteps  of  the  unhappy  captives. 
But  it  was  only  in  the  pm'suit  that  they  became  truly  coii- 
Bcious  of  the  difficulty,  nay,  seeming  impossibility,  of  effect- 
ing their  object.  The  guard  was  armed,  and  ten  in  number  ; 
they  but  two  and  weai:)onIess.     Hopeless,  they  nevertheless 


iili4  SERGEANT      JASPER. 

followed  on.  Two  miles  from  Savannah  there  is  a  famous 
spring,  the  waters  of  which  are  well  known  to  travellers.  The 
conjecture  that  the  guard  might  stop  there,  with  the  prisoners, 
for  refreshment,  suggested  itself  to  our  companions  ;  here, 
opportunities  might  occur  for  the  rescue,  which  had  nowhere 
before  presented  themselves.  Taking  an  obscure  path  with 
which  they  were  familiar,  which  led  them  to  the  spot  before  the 
enemy  could  arrive,  they  placed  themselves  in  ambush  in  the 
immediate  neighborhood  of  the  spring.  They  had  not  long 
to  wait.  The  conjecture  proved  correct.  The  guard  was 
halted  on  the  road  opposite  the  spring.  The  corporal  with- 
four  men  conducted  the  captives  to  the  water,  while  the  ser- 
geant, with  the  remainder  of  his  force,  having  made  them 
ground  their  arms  near  the  road,  brought  up  the  rear.  The 
prisoners  threw  themselves  upon  the  earth — the  woman  and 
child,  near  its  father.  Little  did  any  of  them  dream  that 
deliverance  was  at  hand.  The  child  fell  asleep  in  the  mother's 
lap.  Two  of  the  armed  men  kept  guard,  but  we  may  suppose 
with  little  caution.  What  had  they  to  apprehend,  within 
sight  of  a  walled  town  in  the  possession  of  their  friends  ? 
Two  others  approached  the  spring,  in  order  to  bring  water  to 
the  prisoners.  Resting  their  muskets  against  a  tree  they  pro- 
ceeded to  fill  their  canteens.  At  this  moment  Jasper  gave 
the  signal  to  his  comrade.  In  an  instant  the  muskets  were 
in  their  hands.  In  another,  they  had  shot  dowTi  the  two  sol- 
diers upon  duty  ;  then  clubbing  their  weapons,  they  rushed 
out  upon  the  astonished  enemy,  and  felling  their  first  oppo- 
nents each  at  a  blow,  they  succeeded  in  obtaining  possession 


SERGEANT      JASPER.  225 

of  the  loaded  muskets.  This  decided  the  conflict,  which  was 
over  in  a  few  minutes.  The  surviving  guard  yielded  them- 
selves to  mercy  before  the  presented  weapons.  Such  an 
achievement  could  only  be  successful  from  its  audacity  and 
the  operation  of  cu'cumstances.  The  very  proximity  of 
Savannah  increased  the  chances  of  success.  But  for  this  the 
guard  would  have  used  better  precautions.  None  were  taken. 
The  prompt  valor,  the  bold  decision,  the  cool  calculation  of 
the  instant,  were  the  essential  elements  which  secured  success. 
The  work  of  our  young  heroes  was  not  done  imperfectly. 
The  prisoners  were  quickly  released,  the  arms  of  the  captured 
British  put  into  their  hands,  and,  hurrying  away  from  the  spot 
which  they  have  crowned  with  a  local  celebrity  not  soon  to 
be  forgotten,  they  crossed  the  Savannah  in  safety  with  then* 
friends  and  foes 


10* 


226  TRUE      GLORY      OF      AMERICA. 


mm    GLORl    OF  AMEEIOA. 


BY   G.   MELLKN. 


Italia's  vales  and  fountains, 

Though  beautiful  ye  be, 
I  love  my  soaring  mountains 

And  forests  more  than  ye  ; 
And  though  a  dreamy  greatness  rise 

From  out  your  cloudy  years, 
Like  hills  on  distant  stormy  skies, 

Seem  dim  through  Nature's  tears, 
Still,  tell  me  not  of  years  of  old. 

Of  ancient  heart  and  clime  ; 
Ours  is  the  land  and  age  of  gold. 

And  ours  the  hallow'd  tmie  ! 

The  jewell'd  crown  and  sceptre 

Of  Greece  have  pass'd  away  ; 
And  none,  of  all  who  wept  her, 

Could  bid  hei"  splendor  stay. 
The  world  has  shaken  with  the  tread 

Of  iron-sandall'd  crime — 
And^  lo  !  o'ershadowing  all  the  dead, 

The  conqueror  stalks  sublime  I 


TRUE      GLORY      OF      AMERICA.  227 

Then  ask  I  uot  for  crown  and  plume 

To  nod  above  my  land  ; 
The  victor's  footsteps  point  to  doom, 

Graves  open  round  his  hand  ! 

Rome  !  with  thy  pillar'd  palaces, 

And  sculptured  heroes  all, 
Snatch'd,  in  their  warm,  triumphal  days, 

To  Art's  high  festival ; 
Rome  !  with  thy  giant  sons  of  power, 

Whose  pathway  was  on  thrones, 
Who  built  their  kingdoms  of  an  hour 

On  yet  unburied  bones, — 
I  would  not  have  my  land  like  thee, 

So  lofty — 'yet  so  cold  ! 
Be  hers  a  lowlier  majesty, 

In  yet  a  nobler  mould. 

Thy  marbles— works  of  wonder ! 

In  thy  victorious  days, 
Whose  lips  did  seem  to  sunder 

Before  the  astonish'd  gaze  ; 
When  statue  glared  on  statue  there, 

The  living  on  the  dead, — 
And  men  as  silent  pilgrims  were 

Before  some  sainted  head  ! 
O,  not  for  faultless  marbles  yet 

Would  I  the  light  forego 


228  TRUE      GLORY      OF      AMERICA. 

That  beams  when  other  lights  have  set, 
And  Art  herself  lies  low  ! 

O,  ours  a  holier  hope  shall  be 

Than  consecrated  bust, 
Some  loftier  mean  of  memory 

To  snatch  us  from  the  dust. 
And  ours  a  sterner  art  than  this, 

Shall  fix  our  image  here, — 
The  spirit's  mould  of  loveliness — 

A  nobler  Belvidere  1 

Then  let  them  bind  with  bloomless  flowers 

The  busts  and  m'ns  of  old, — 
A  fairer  heritage  be  ours, 

A  sacrifice  less  cold  ! 
Give  honor  to  the  great  and  good, 

And  wreathe  the  living  brow, 
Kindlmg  with  Vu'tue's  manthug  blood. 

And  pay  the  tribute  now"  ! 

So,  when  the  good  and  great  go  down, 

Then"  statues  shall  arise. 
To  crowd  those  temples  of  our  own, 

Our  fadeless  memories ! 
And  w^hen  the  sculptured  marble  falls, 

And  art  goes  in  to  die, 
Our  forms  shall  live  in  holier  halls, 

The  Pantheon  of  the  skv  ! 


CHRISTIAN'     ,VOMAN    IN    THE    HOUR    OF    DAI^GER.     229 


CHRISTIAN  WOMAN  m  THE  HOUR  OF  DANGER. 


Early  in  the  war,  the  inhabitants  on  the  fi'ontier  of  Burke 
county,  North  Carolina,  being  apprehensive  of  an  attack  by 
the  Indians,  it  was  determined  to  seek  protection  in  a  fort  in 
a  more  densely  populated  neighborhood  in  an  interior  settle- 
ment. A  party  of  soldiers  was  sent  to  protect  them  on  their 
retreat  The  families  assembled,  the  line  of  march  was  taken 
towards  their  place  of  destination,  and  they  proceeded  some 
miles  unmolested — the  soldiers  marching  in  a  hollow  square, 
witli  the  refugee  families  in  the  centre.  The  Indians,  who 
had  watched  these  movements,  had  laid  a  plan  for  their 
destruction.  The  road  to  be  travelled  lay  through  a  dense 
forest  in  the  fork  of  a  river,  where  the  Indians  concealed 
themselves,  and  waited  till  the  travellers  were  in  the  desired 
spot.  Suddenly  the  war-whoop  sounded  in  front,  and  on 
either  side  ;  a  large  body  of  pamted  warriors  rushed  in, 
filling  the  gap  by  which  the  whites  had  entered,  and  an 
appalling  crash  of  fire-arms  followed.  The  soldiers,  however, 
were  prepared  ;  such  as  chanced  to  be  near  the  trees  darted 
behind  them,  and  began  to  ply  the  deadly  rifle  ;  the  others 
prostrated  themselves  upon  the  earth,  among  the  tall  grass, 


and  crawled  to  trees.  The  families  screened  themselves  as 
best  tliey  could.  The  onset  \vas  long  and  fiercely  urged  ; 
ever  and  anon  amid- the  din  and  smoke,  the  warriors  would 
rush,  tomahawk  in  hand,  towards  the  centre  ;  but  they  were 
I'epulsed  by  the  cool  intrepidity  of  the  back-woods  riflemen. 
Still  they  fought  on,  determined  on  the  destruction  of  the 
victims  who  offered  such  desperate  resistance.  All  at  once 
an  appalling  sound  greeted  the  ears  of  the  women  and  chil- 
dren in  the  centre  ;  it  was  a  cry  fi'om  their  defenders — a  cry 
for  powder  !  '' Om*  powder  is  giving  out !"  they  exclaimed. 
"  Have  you  any  ?  Bring  us  some,  or  we  can  fight  no  longer  1" 
A  woman  of  the  party  had  a  good  supply.  She  spread  her 
apron  on  the  ground,  poured  her  powder  into  it,  and  going 
round,  from  soldier  to  soldier,  as  they  stood  })ehind  the  trees, 
bade  each  who  needed  powder  put  down  his  hat,  and  pom-ed 
a  quantity  upon  it.  Thus  she  went  round  the  line  of  defence, 
till  her  whole  stock,  and  all  she  could  obtain  from  others, 
was  distributed.  At  last  the  savages  gave  way,  and,  pressed 
by  their  foes,  were  driven  off  the  ground.  The  victorious 
whites  returned  to  those  for  whose  safety  they  had  ventured 
into  the  wilderness.  Inquiries  were  made  as  to  who  had 
been  killed,  and  one  running  up  cried,  "  Where  is  the  woman 
that  gave  us  the  powder  ?  I  want  to  see  her  I"  "  Yes  ! — 
yes! — let  us  see  her!"  responded  another  and  another; 
•'  without  her  we  should  have  been  all  lost !"  Tlio  soldiers 
ran  about  among  the  women  and  children,  looking  for  her 
and  making  inquiries.  Directly  came  in  others  from  the 
pursuit,  one  of  whom  observing  the  commotion,  asked  the 


LIBERTY.  231 

cause,  and  was  told.  "  You  are  looking  in  he  wrong  place," 
he  replied.  "  Is  she  killed  ?  Ah,  we  are  afraid  of  that  1" 
exclaimed  many  voices.  "  Not  when  I  saw  her,"  answered 
the  soldier.  "When  the  Indians  ran  off,  she  was  on  he?- 
knees  in  prayer  at  the  root  of  yonder  tree,  and  there  I  left 
her."  There  was  a  simultaneous  rush  to  the  tree — and  there, 
to  their  great  joy,  they  found  the  woman  safe,  and  still  on 
her  knees  in  prayer.  Thinking  not  of  herself,  she  received 
then-  applause  without  manifesting  any  other  feehng  than 
gratitude  to  heaven  for  their  great  deliverance. 


L  I  B  E  UTY . 


There  is  a  spirit  working  in  the  world, 

Like  to  a  silent  subterranean  fire  ; 
Yet,  ever  and  anon,  some  monarch  hurl'd 

Aghast  and  pale,  attests  its  fearful  ire. 

The  dungeon'd  nations  now  once  more  respire 
The  keen  and  stuTing  air  of  Liberty. 
The  struggling  giant  wakes  and  feels  he's  free. 

By  Delphi's  fountain  cave,  that  ancient  choir, 
Resume  their  song  ;  the  Greek  astonished  hears  ; 
And  the  old  altar  of  his  worship  rears. 

Sound  on,  fair  sisters  !  sound  your  boldest  lyre, 
Peal  your  old  harmonies  as  from  the  spheres. 

Unto  strange  gods  too  long  we've  bent  the  knee. 

The  trembling  mind,  too  long  and  patiently. 


232  BATTLE      OF  AKE      C  H  A  M  P  L  A I N 


BATTLE    OF    L\KE    CHAMPLAIN. 


The  assaults  on  Plattsburgh  and  on  the  American  fleet  by 
the  British  were  simultaneously  made  by  land  and  water,  on 
the  11th  of  September.  At  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning,  the 
British  fleet  was  seen  approaching  ;  and,  in  an  hour,  the 
action  became  general.  It  is  thus  described  by  Macdonough, 
in  his  official  letter  : 

"  At  nine,"  he  says,  "  the  enemy  anchored  in  a  line  ahead, 
at  about  three  hundred  yards  distant  from  my  line  ;  his  ship 
opposed  to  the  Saratoga  ;  his  brig  to  the  Eagle,  Captain 
Robert  Henley  ;  his  galleys — thirteen  in  number — to  the 
schooner,  sloop  and  a  division  of  our  galleys  ;  one  of  his 
sloops  assisting  their  ship  and  brig  ;  the  other  assisting  their 
galleys  ;  our  remaining  galleys  were  with  the  Saratoga  and 
Eagle. 

"  In  this  situation,  the  whole  force  on  both  sides  became 
engaged  ;  the  Saratoga  suffermg  much  from  the  heavy  fire  of 
the  Confiance.  I  could  perceive,  at  the  same  time,  however, 
that  our  fire  was  very  destructive  to  her.  The  Ticonderoga, 
Lieutenant  Commandant  Cassin,  gallantly  sustained  her  full 
share  of  the  action.     At  half-past  ten,  the  Eagle,  not  being 


BATTLE   OF   LAKE  CHAM  PLAIN.         2o.> 

able  to  bring  her  guns  to  bear,  cut  her  cable,  and  anchored  in 
a  more  eligible  position,  between  my  ship  and  the  Ticoaderoga, 
wliere  she  very  much  annoyed  the  enemy,  but  unfortunately, 
leaving  me  much  exposed  to  a  galling  fire  from  the  enemy's 
brig. 

"  Our  guns  on  the  starboard  side  being  nearly  all  dismounted 
or  unmanageable,  a  stern  anchor  was  let  go,  the  bower  cable 
cut,  and  the  ship  winded,  with  a  fresh  broadside  on  the 
enemy's  ship,  which  soon  after  surrendered.  Our  broadside  was 
then  sprung  to  bear  on  the  sloop,  which  surrendered  about 
fifteen  minutes  afterward.  The  sloop  which  was  opposed  to 
the  Eagle  had  struck  some  tune  before,  and  drifted  down  the 
line.  The  sloop  that  was  with  theii'  galleys  had  also  struck. 
Our  galleys  were  about  obeying  with  alacrity  the  signal  to 
follow  them,  when  all  the  vessels  were  reported  to  me  to  be 
in  a  sinking  state.  It  then  became  necessary  to  annul  the 
signal  to  the  galleys,  and  order  their  men  to  the  pumps.  I 
could  only  look  at  the  enemy's  galleys  going  off  in  a  shattered 
condition,  for  tliere  was  not  a  mast  in  either  squadron  that 
could  stand  to  make  sail  on.  The  lower  rigging  being  nearly 
shot  away,  hung  down  as  though  it  had  just  been  placed  over 
the  mast-heads. 

"  The  Saratoga  had  fifty-five  round  shot  in  her  hull ;  the 
Confiance,  105.  The  enemy's  shot  passed  principally  over 
our  heads,  as  there  were  not  twenty  whole  hammocks  in  the 
nettings,  at  the  close  of  the  action,  which  lasted  without  inter- 
mission two  hours  and  twenty  min'.es. 


234  NEW    England's    dead. 


^^EW    ENGLAiXD'S    DEAD. 


M  LELLAN,   JR. 


New  England's  dead  !  New  England's  dead  I 

On  every  hill  they  lie  ; 
On  every  field  of  strife,  made  red 

By  ])loody  victory. 
Each  valley,  where  the  battle  pour'd 

Its  red  and  awful  tide. 
Beheld  the  brave  New  England  sword 

With  slaughter  deeply  dyed. 
Their  bones  are  on  the  northern  hill, 

And  on  the  southern  plain. 
By  brook  and  river,  lake  and  rill, 

And  by  the  roaring  main. 

The  land  is  holy  where  they  fought, 

And  holy  where  they  fell ; 
For  by  their  blood  that  land  was  bought, 

The  land  they  loved  so  well. 
Then  glory  to  that  valiant  band, 
The  honor'd  saviours  of  the  land  I 


NEW    England's    dead.  235 

0,  few  and  weak  their  numbers  were — 

A  handful  of  brave  men  ; 
But  to  then'  God  they  gave  then*  prayer, 

And  rash'd  to  battle  then. 
The  God  of  battles  heard  their  cry, 
And  sent  to  them  the  victory. 

They  left  the  ploughshare  in  the  mould, 
Their  flocks  and  herds  without  a  fold, 
The  sickle  in  the  unshorn  grain, 
The  corn  half-garner'd,  on  the  plain, 
And  muster'd,  in  their  simple  dress, 
For  wrongs  to  seek  a  steru  ^edress, 
To  right  those  wrongs,  come  weal,  come  wo,' 
To  perish,  or  o'ercome  their  foe. 

And  where  are  ye,  0  fearless  men  ? 

And  where  are  ye  to-day  ? 
I  call : — the  hills  reply  again 

That  ye  have  pass'd  away  ; 
That  on  old  Bunker's  lonely  height, 

In  TVenton,  and  in  Monmoutli  grouna, 
rhe  grass  grows  green,  the  harvest  bright 

Above  each  soldier's  mound. 
The  bugle's  wild  and  warlike  blast 

Shall  muster  them  no  more  ; 
An  army  now^  might  thunder  past, 

v^nd  they  heed  not  its  roar. 


WHAT      CONSTITUTES     A     STATE. 

The  starry  flag,  'neath  whic!i  they  fought, 

In  many  a  bloody  day, 
From  their  old  graves  shall  rouse  them  not, 

For  they  have  pass'd  away 


WHAT   CONSTITUTES  A  STATE. 

What  constitutes  a  State  ? 
Not  high-rais'd  battlements  or  labor'd  mound, 

Thick  wall  or  moated  gate  ; 
Xot  cities  proud,  with  spires  and  turrets  crown'd  ; 

Xot  bays  and  broad-armed  hosts, 
Where,  laughing  at  the  storm,  rich  navies  ride  ; 

Not  starr'd  and  spangled  courts, 
Where  low-bow'd  baseness  wafts  perfume  to  pride 

No  : — men,  high-minded  men. 
With  power  as  far  above  dull  brutes  endued. 

In  forest,  wake,  or  den, 
As  beasts  excel  cold  rocks  and  hamlets  rude  I 

Men  who  their  duties  know. 
But  know  their  rights,  and,  knowing,  dare  maintain, 

Prevent  the  long-aim'd  blow, 
And  crush  the  tyrant  while  they  rend  the  chain  : 

These  constitute  a  State. 


BLESSING      THE      BEASTS.  23T 


BLESSmG    THE  BEASTS. 

BY   GRACE    GREENWOOD. 

We  went,  last  Sunday,  to  see  the  blessing  of  beasts — an 
annual  cere  nony,  which  takes  place  at  the  Church  of  San 
Antonio,  There  was  an  immense  crowd  of  all  descriptions 
and  classes  of  people  ;  among  the  rest,  a  vast  convocation  of 
beggars,  the  crippled  and  maimed  in  endless  varieties,  wrecks 
and  remnants,  divisions  and  subdivisions  of  men. 

A  priest  stood  on  the  steps  of  the  church,  with  a  holy-water 
sprinkler  in  his  hand,  and  a  little  boy  at  his  side,  bearing  the 
benilier.  The  animals  were  trotted  up  before  him ;  he  read 
a  form  of  JDenediction  in  Latin,  shook  the  sprinkler  at  them, 
and  they  were  good  for  a  twelvemonth.  Of  course,  this  is 
done  for  a  consideration — as  what  is  not,  in  the  way  of  church 
parades,  privileges,  and  immunities  ?  The  first  applicants  for 
a  benediction,  after  our  arrival,  were  two  miserable  old  cart- 
horses, who  looked  as  though  the  blessings  of  all  the  fathers 
of  the  church  could  not  keep  them  on  their  legs  for  twenty- 
four  hours.  I  fear  the  rite  was  extreme  unction  to  them  ;  and 
yet  the  owner  doubtless  led  them  away,  rejoicing  in  the  faith 
that  the  crows  were  cheated  of  the  poor  skeletons  for  a  year 
to  come. 

Next  came  a  drove  of  donkeys,  with  their  heads  and  tails 


238  BLESSING      THE      BEASTS. 

decorated  with  gay  ribbons.  One  of  these  committed  the 
ever-to-be-apprehended  asinine  impropriety  of  braying  in  the 
midst  of  the  ceremony.  So  absurd,  ludicrous,  and  pompously 
farcical  was  this  scene, — so  stupid,  yet  consciously  ridiculous 
Feemed  the  chief  actors, — that  it  struck  me  the  benediction 
might  have  commenced  without  great  inappropriateness  with 
an  apostolic  "  dearly-beloved  brethren  !" 

I  trust  I  shall  not  be  thought  irreverent  fi'om  this  or  any 
thing  of  the  kind  I  may  say.  I  feel  a  daily-im  reasing  mdig- 
nation  and  contempt  towards  the  monstrous  absurdities  of  this 
system  of  religion  and  the  actors  therein.  To  reverence  such 
things  and  such  men  were  an  insult  to  the  God  in  whom  I  believe. 

There  came  up  a  sudden  and  violent  shower,  and  we  were 
driven  for  shelter  into  the  church,  where  we  were  brouglit 
into  more  intimate  relations  with  the  lower  classes  than  was 
altogether  safe  or  savory.  I  am  a  democrat,  even  in  Italy, 
till  it  comes  to  garlic  and  'puld,  when  I  must  confess,  my 
democracy  assumes  a  purely  abstract  character.  After  the 
storm  was  passed,  the  Pope's  stud  came,  mostly  driven  m 
carriages,  magnificent  turnouts.  Then  followed  those  of  the 
cardinals,  scarcely  less  stately  and  gorgeous.  Next  came 
twenty-four  superb  horses,  belonging  to  Prince  Piombino, 
attached  to  one  carriage,  all  decorated  with  plumes  and 
ribbons — really  a  beautiful  sight. 

The  horses  which  are  to  run  in  the  Corso,  during  the 
Carnival,  were  blessed  amid  unusual  demonstrations  of  popu- 
lar feeling  ;  and  so  it  ended — the  oldest,  absurdest,  most 
utterly  ridiculous  religious  ceremonial  I  ever  beheld. 


DO      RIGHT.  239 


DO    RIGHT. 


Though  earthly  interest  takes  flight, 

Or  sobs  upon  the  sod  ; 
Still  dare  thou  ever  to  ''do  right, 

And  leave  the  rest  to  God." 
Do  what  thy  duty  calls  each  day, 
Regardless  what  the  wov  ^  may  say. 

Though  scoffs  and  jeers  thy  frenzied  foes 

Roll  on  thee  like  a  flood, 
Or  weave  a  subtle  web  of  woes, 

They  cannot  harm  the  good  ; 
The  clouds  and  shadows  here  you  have, 
Project  a  glory  to  the  grave. 

Do  right,  and  bravely  bear  each  blow  ; 

A  blessing  will  be  given — 
If  not  in  this  black  world  below. 

In  yonder  smiling  heaven. 
Walk  in  the  way  by  virtue  trod, 

"Do  riffht,  and  leave  the  rest  to  God." 


210  THE      RILE  XT      SCOURGE 


HE    SILENT    SCOURGE 


FT   THE   EDITOR. 


Never  was  the  near  future  of  political  parties  in  this  coun- 
try so  seething  with  anxious  hopes,  and  doubts,  and  fears ; 
never  so  pregnant  with  inexplicable  terrors  to  tune-servera 
and  place-men  ;  never  so  ominous  to  demagogues  and  huck- 
sters in  the  field  of  poKtics  as  now.  From  the  ta]>room  to 
the  Senate  Chamber,  wherever  party  organization  has  here- 
tofore stalked,  confident  and  defiant — wherever  the  edict  of 
the  bully-governed  caucus  has  decided  nominations  and  appoint- 
ments, and  ruled  with  a  rude,  yet  iron  hand,  the  rank  and  file 
of  the  people — led  like  sheep  to  the  slaughter — at  the  ballot- 
box,  all  is  dismay  and  trembling.  The  mouthing  impudence, 
so  brazen  and  brow-beating  until  now,  is  as  suddenly  hushed 
as  though  the  finger  of  death  was  on  its  lips — no  grim  skeleton 
ever  brought  such  stilness  to  an  EgyiDtian  feast.  All  ears 
are  open  to  hear,  all  eyes  are  staring  to  see,  and  all  tongues 
are  questioning  the  com'se  of  the  silent  scourge  that  has  risen 
up  in  the  land,  invisible  and  secret  as  sleeping  lightning,  to 
rebuke  and  punish  t\ie  traders  and  traitors  who  have  so  long 
corrupted  the  national  franchise,  and  brought  the  country  to 
shame — and  nigh  to  ruin. 

Who  is  it — what  is  it — and  where  is  it — this  scourge,  sc 
potent  and  purifying  *     Who  conceived  it — -who  evoked  it— 


THE      SILENT      SCOURGE.  241 

and  how  and  where  is  it  to  end,  if,  indeed,  it  end  at  all  ? 
Mighty  and  mysterious  scourge !  preceded  by  no  rumbling, 
yet  it  stirs  all  the  land,  bursting  like  a  sudden  earthquake 
wherever  its  fires  are  called  to  purge  Freedom's  palladium, 
and  make  the  ballot  what  the  framers  of  the  Republic  intended, 

"  A  weapon  surer  yet. 

And  mightier  than  the  bayonet ; 
A  weapon,  that  comes  down  as  still 

As  snow  flakes  fall  upon  the  sod, 
And  executes  a  freeman's  will, 

As  lightnings  do  the  will  of  God  !" 

East  and  West,  and  North  and  South — in  the  chief  marts 
and  capitals  of  the  Union,  its  stroke  has  fallen  swift  and  sure, 
and  politicians  and  parties,  stripped  of  every  gauge  of  accus- 
tomed calculation,  have  only  been  aware  of  its  presence  when 
they  saw  their  petted  candidates  and  schemes  rolling  headlong 
in  the  ditch  of  overwhelmmg  defeat.  New  Orleans,  long  at 
the  mercy  of  insolent,  foreign-born  brawlers,  bears  witness ! 
So  does  Washington,  as  it  will,  despite  the  executive  guillotine 
that  flashes  its  knife  madly  and  in  vain.  So  do  St.  Louis — 
where  the  German  boasted  that  the  American  should  be  put 
down — and  Philadelphia — desecrated  too  long  by  foreign- 
born  mobs — and  Mobile,  and  Norfolk,  and  many  a  lesser 
place  we  might  name.  And  so,  by-and-by,  in  our  own  city 
and  State,  this  silent  scourge  will  fall,  and  many  a  dema- 
gogue's back  will  writhe  under  the  biting  blow,  and  all  true 
men  will  gladly  confess  that  this  is  yet  an  American  land,  and 
that  Americans  can  aTid  will  riik  if,  as  they  ought  ever  to 

have  done. 

11 


242  THE      SILENT      SCOURGE. 

And  far  wider  than  municipalities  and  States,  the  blow  will 
be  struck  all  over  the  Union,  and  the  next  occupant  of  the 
White  House  chair  will  owe  his  elevation — of  which  he  must 
be  worthy — to  invisible  hands.  Even  now,  while  no  man  can 
say  of  it  more  than  is  said  of  the  wind,  "It  goeth  and  cometh 
as  it  listeth,"  there  is  fright  and  confusion  in  every  political 
camp.  The  master  demagogues,  the  whippers-in,  the  men 
who  have  been  the  leaders,  the  Sampsons  of  their  hosts,  grope 
stone-blind  in  the  midst  of  their  temples,  waiting  to  be  buried 
when  the  pillars  shall  be  shaken  by  the  commg  scom'ge.  The 
tricky  place-men  feel  their  doom  at  hand.  They  would  trade 
to  avert  it,  but  they  idly  beat  the  an*  in  their  search  for  the 
angel  of  the  scourge.  Here  he  is,  and  there  he  is,  they  cry — 
but  they  find  him  not.  One  says  the  scourge  is  agamst  that 
party,  and  another  that  it  is  against  this  ;  yet  the  only  thing 
men  know  is  this : — that  it  is  against  all  men,  and  all  parties, 
who  have  been  false,  or  are  likely — having  the  power — to  be 
false  to  this  Union,  this  American  Republic. 

If  any  party  may  seem — as  one  perhaps  does — to  have 
most  severely  felt  the  scourge,  it  is  because  that  party  has 
most  betrayed  and  trampled  on  the  principles,  that  should 
accompany  its  sacred  name  ;  because  its  possession  of  that 
name — a  pretentious  cheat — has  most  enabled  it  to  barter 
the  officeis  and  interests  of  the  land  to  a  foreign  horde.  No 
other  party  could  have  so  sold  a  country,  and  raised  up  in  ii  s 
midst  a  sedition  against  its  most  cherished  institutions  and 
ideas — nor  can  this  one  do  it  longer,  nor  could  it  have  done  it, 
but  for  a  delusive  vame,  rnd  the  easy  temper  until  thoroughly 


THE      SILENT      SCOURGE.  243 

aroused,  of  the  American  people.  The  game  is  now  up  I 
Neither  coaxing  nor  threatening  can  stay  the  impending  blow 
that  is  to  punish  the  shameless  traders  and  traitors,  native  or 
foreign,  until  every  citizen  shall  be  glad  and  proud  to  say,  "  I, 
too,  am  an  American." 

The  secret  forces  that  wield  the  silent  scourge,  clearly 
understand  then*  work.  They  aim  at  the  right  mark.  They 
strike  no  indiscrinunate  blows,  but  smite  the  jockeys  who  have 
curried  the  foreign  horse  (worse  than  the  fabled  Greek), 
who  have  seduced  and  misled  the  people,  and  for  a  time  have 
played  their  game  of  place  and  plunder  without  check.  These 
are  the  heads  to  lop  off,  be  they  little  or  big,  be  they  repre- 
sentatives or  executives.  Its  silence  preserved,  a  party  organ- 
ization avoided,  and  eternal  vigilance — the  price  of  Uberty — ■ 
written  on  its  front,  and  ail  men  will  yet  bless  this  scourge. 
It  will  purify  the  land.  It  will  bury  all  yoimg  or  old  foreign- 
aUties,  and,  placing  the  destuiies  of  the  country  in  American 
hands,  at  home  and  abroad,  will  make  the  name  of  the  Ame- 
rican Republic  honored  and  respected  throughout  the  world — 
which  is  not  the  case  now.  We  warn  nobody,  for  we  know 
nothing  more  than  is  open  and  visible,  to  all  who  choose  to 
see.  But  we  reckon  a  warning  is  felt,  and  that  it  has  struck 
deep  in  the  right  quarter,  and  will  strike  deeper,  until  the 
joints  of  political  schemers  are  made  to  rattle  louder  than  did 
ever  the  "  dry  bones"  in  the  valley.  All  we  have  to  say  is, 
God  speed  the  silent  scourge,  until  its  bravely  begun  work  is 
triumphantly  done  I 


244  MY      OWN      GREEN      MOUNTAIN      LAND. 


MY  OWN  GREEiX  MOUNTAIN  LAND. 


My  Native  Land  !  in  many  a  dream- 
Beneath  the  northern  skies — 

Amid  the  purplmg  clouds,  I  see 
Thy  dark  Green  Mountains  rise  ; 

And  proudly  o'er  thy  valley  sands 
The  bright  blue  waters  roll, 

Whose  music  broke  at  life's  clear  c'awn. 
With  glory  on  my  soul. 

Though  years  have  flown  since  last  I  saw 

Thy  mountains'  cresting  pines, 
I  love  thee  for  the  memories 

That  chng  around  thy  shrines  : 
For  all  that  e'er  my  boyhood  knew — 

Loved,  beautiful  or  grand — 
Is  cradled  'mong  thy  hills  and  vales, 

My  own  Green  Mountain  land. 

I  love  thee  for  those  hero  souls 
Who  answered  Freedom's  call ; 

I  love  thee  for  the  liberty 

Thou  claim'st  and  giv'st  to  all ; 


MY    n'ative    land.  245 

I  love  thee  for  the  stalwart  arms 

And  braver  hearts,  that  stand 
A  stronger  guard  than  castle  walls, 

For  thee — my  Native  Land  ! 

I  may  have  trod  in  sunnier  climes, 

Where  rolls  the  flashing  Rhine, 
Or  Albion  rears  her  chalky  clijffs — 

A  kindlier  soil  than  thine  ; 
But  never  have  I  seen  the  spot—  • 

Loved,  beautiful  or  grand — 
That  led  my  heart  away  from  thee, 

My  own  Green  Mountain  Land.'' 

*  Vennont. 


246  REPUBLICS ANCIENT    AND    MODERN 


REPUBLICS-AJfCIENT  AND  MODERN. 


ANONYMOUS. 


It  is  idle  to  measure  the  United  States  as  a  nation,  or  the 
Americans  as  a  people,  by  drawing  parallels.  The  entire 
history  of  the  world  furnishes  no  parallel,  either  to  the  Repub- 
lic or  the  people,  so  that  all  inferences  drawn,  and  prophecies 
made,  on  the  strength  of  what  nations  and  races  have  done  in 
past  time,  are  a  lost  illustration  applied  to  us.  Every  nation 
has  its  peculiarities,  every  age  its  phase,  and  every  people  its 
distinct  manifestations.  The  nation  is  an  image  of  the  people  ; 
the  people  are  a  reflex  of  circumstance  and  condition  ;  and 
the  age  is  a  cycle  through  which  nation  and  people  pass.  The 
attempt  to  justify  or  condemn,  by  contrasting  moderns  with 
ancients,  generally  shows  the  imbecility  of  searchers  for 
analogies.  The  only  analogy  that  can  be  drawn  between 
nations  or  races,  is,  that  the  one  were  either  kingdoms, 
empires,  hierarchies,  oligarchies,  or  republics,  from  their  form 
of  government ;  and  the  other  either  savage,  barbarous,  civil- 
ized or  enlightened.  There  is  just  so  much  similarity,  and 
no  more.  Scythia  was  a  kingdom,  and  so  is  England — Greece 
was  a  republic,  and  so  is  the  United  States  ;  and  there  the 
parallel  ends. 

The  old  kingdom  and  republic  founded  their  politics  upon 


REPUBLICS  —  AXG  EXT   AND   MODERN.     247 

their  peculiar  positions,  according  to  the  character  and  cir- 
cumstances of  their  people,  and  the  new  do  the  same.  But 
how  different  may  be  those  positions,  characters  and  circum- 
stances !  England  is  not  like  Spain,  yet  both  are  kingdoms. 
Nor  is  our  America  of  to-day,  like  the  Rome  of  two  thousand 
years  ago,  though  both  republics.  The  warnings  and  prophe- 
cies of  those  who  divizie  the  future  from  the  past  are,  therefore, 
mainly  mere  cant.  It  is  barely  possible  to  say  man  is  the  same 
in  all  ages.  He  is  only  so  in  certain  sympathies  and  wants. 
Men  in  all  ages  and  of  all  conditions,  require  air  to  breathe, 
food  and  drink  for  their  nourishment,  and  certain  protective 
raiment  and  shelter, — and  these  not  hi  the  same  proportion, 
but  according  to  climate  and  occupation  ;  whatever  is  higher 
than  these  instinctive  necessities,  depends  upon  the  character 
of  races  and  the  age  in  which  they  live. 

Tiie  United  States  has  been  compared  to  Greece  and  Rome, 
and  warnings  have  been  founded  on  the  comparison.  Where 
is  the  likeness  except  in  the  name  Republic  ?  Had  Greece  or 
Rome  a  free  people,  educated,  enlightened,  and  surrounded  by 
institutions  hke  ours  ?  Had  they  commerce,  agriculture,  arts, 
and  sciences  like  ours  ?  Had  they  even  armies  and  navies 
like  ours,  and  what  is  more,  soil,  climate,  resources,  and  people 
dispositioned  as  in  the  Anglo-Saxon  Republic?  Certainly 
not ;  therefore  there  is  no  parallel  between  them.  Ballot- 
boxes,  common  schools,  the  printing  press,  steam,  electricity 
and  Christianity,  make  us  one  thing  ;  Greece  and  Rome  with 
their  inheritance  and  acquirements,  were  quite  another.  If 
we  push  a  conquest  or  enlarge  a  bound  of  empire,  some  prophet 


248  REPUBLICS—  ANCIENT      AND      MODERN, 

owl  is  ready  to  hoot  in  our  ears — ''Rtmember  the  fate  of  the 
ancient  republics  !"  Away  with  such  nonsense.  If  the  dark- 
ness of  their  ages  and  the  scantiness  of  their  genius  belonged 
to  us  with  the  'iuime  Republic,  we  might  heed  their  warnings. 
But  we  only  bear  the  name — the  old  circumstances  and  con- 
ditions are  swept  away,  lost  for  ever.  Warnings  are  worthy 
of  our  heed  only  when  they  are  based  on  our  violations  of 
true  republican  principles. 

Rome  was  a  military  repubUc,  born  of  force  and  magnified 
by  unscrupulous  conquests.  She  held  her  empire  together, 
not  by  unity  of  language,  not  by  community  of  interests  and 
equality  of  enjoyment  among  her  captive  nations,  nor  by  a 
common  government,  but  by  the  sword  ;  and  when  the  native 
hand  that  held  the  sword  grew  weak,  the  empire  was  broken 
and  scattered.  She  had  no  art  but  the  tread  of  her  legions 
to  compass  and  annihilate  distance  ;  no  lightning-winged 
wires  threading  the  air  from  ocean  to  ocean,  making  near 
neighbors  of  men  at  the  remotest  distacce.  Nay,  scarcely  a 
feature  in  common  with  us  had  she  or  her  sister,  Greece. 
They  were,  in  the  aggregate  of  respects,  mfinitely  om-  inferior  ; 
and  yet  there  are  hving,  legislatmg  fools  who  strive  to  judge 
us  by  their  standard.  Stuff  1  It  were  as  well  to  compare 
the  flight  of  a  liwzzard  thi^ough  a  London  fog,  with  the 
majestic  rise  of  an  eagle  through  a  tram  parent  atmosphere, 
into  the  sun's  eye. 


THE    ameri:an    farmer.  249 


THE    AMERICA.>^    FARMER. 


There  is  a  man  of  prouder  heart 

And  nobler  far,  I  ween, 
Than  sceptred  king  or  laureled  chief, 

Or  warrior  in  his  sheen, 
Who  would  not  give  to  prince  or  peer 

The  splendor  of  his  name, 
Though  hosts  ran  shouting  at  his  heels — 

The  heralds  of  his  fame  ! 

See,  yonder  is  his  palace  high, 

His  kingdom  fair  and  wide  : 
His  throne  the  cot,  his  sword  the  plough, 

His  realm  the  valley  side  ; 
His  only  host  his  flocks  and  herds, 

And  fields  of  nodding  gram, 
The  subjects  of  his  royal  rule — 

The  lords  of  his  domain  ! 

He  wants  no  helms  nor  iron  hands, 
Nor  pomp  of  waving  plumes, 

Nor  vassal  knee,  nor  courtier  tread. 
Nor  India's  soft  perfumes  ; 
U* 


250  A      SACRIFICE      FOR      FREEDOM. 

He  holds  his  rein,  he  guides  his  steed 

And  bares  his  shining  blade, 
And  herds  are  thinned  and  fields  are  strewn — 

But  not  in  ruin  laid  ! 


A  SACRIFICE  FOR  FREEDOM. 

The  subject  of  the  following  anecdote  was  a  sister  of 
General  Woodhull,  and  was  born  at  Brookhaven,  Lcng 
Island,  in  December,  It 40.  Her  husband  was  a  member  of 
the  Provinctal  Convention  which  met  in  May,  ltt5,  and  of 
the  Convention  which  was  called  two  years  after,  to  frame 
the  first  State  Constitution. 

While  Judge  William  Smith  was  in  the  Provincial  Con- 
gress, his  lady  was  met,  at  a  place  called  Middle  Island,  by 
Major  Benjamin  Tallmadge,  who  was  then  on  his  march 
across  Long  Island.  He  told  her  he  was  on  his  way  to  her 
house  to  capture  the  force  then  possessing  Fort  George,  and 
that  he  might  be  obliged  to  burn  or  otherwise  destroy  her 
dwelling-house  and  other  buildings  in  accomplishing  this 
object.  Ready  to  make  any  sacrifice  for  the  good  of  her 
bleeding  country,  she  promptly  assured  the  Major  that  the 
buildings  were  at  his  disposal,  to  destroy  or  not,  as  efibrts  to 
dislodge  the  enemy  might  require. 


FOREIGN      MILITARY      ORGANIZATIONS.  251 


FOREIGN  MILITARI.  ORGANIZATIONS. 


BY  THE   EDITOR. 


For  what  purpose  are  these  men  banded  together  ?  Why 
do  they  meet  and  drill,  and  parade  the  streets,  flaunting  their 
foreign  banners  in  the  ftice  of  our  stripes  and  stars  ?  Tliey 
come  here  for  bread  and  work,  and  a  home  for  their  child- 
ren— many  of  them  to  be  supported  by  the  private  charity 
and  public  alms  of  our  citizens.  In  forsaking  the  land  of 
starvation  and  oppression  for  the  land  of  freedom  and  plenty, 
are  they  not  willing  to  leave  their  impotent  Saints  and  their 
trampled  ensigns  behind  them  ?  Let  them  leave  their  help- 
less Saint  Patricks  and  down-trodden  shamrocks  in  the  barren 
bogs  of  their  priest-scourged  country,  and  in  this  free  land  of 
their  adoption,  embrace  the  American  flag  the  moment  they 
touch  American  soil. 

If  the  Irish,  or  any  other  people,  choose  to  form  lenecoknt 
associations  for  the  relief  and  succor  of  then*  suffering  fellow- 
countrymen,  there  is  no  cause  of  complamt  against  sucli 
organizations  ;  but  rather  of  approbation.  And  to  keep  warm 
the  home  feehng — to  vivify  the  remembrance  of  the  misery 
from  which  they  have  fled — let  them  wear,  as  melancholy 
mementoes,  the  mottoes  and  the  badges  of  their  wretched  native 


252  FOREIGN      MILITARY      ORGANIZATIONS. 

land.  But  when  it  comes  to  milita7-y  associations — to  the 
arming  of  bodies  of  foreign-born  men,  for  the  purpose  of  fight- 
ing against  the  citizens  and  the  institutions  of  the  land  of 
their  adoption — we  think  it  high  time  for  the  State  to  inter- 
fere. In  a  country  of  equal  rights  and  equal  laws,  the  lives, 
the  property,  and  the  rehgions,of  ail  classes  are  ahke  respected 
and. protected.  There  is  not  an  American  citizen,  worthy  of 
the  name,  who  would  not  arm  himself  to  defend  the  rights,  the 
churches,  and  the  persons  of  any  portion  of  the  community, 
without  regard  to  sect  or  origin.  The  strong  arm  of  the 
Republic  will  protect  all  classes  of  her  citizens.  The  stars 
and  stripes  float  broadly  and  proudly  over  all.  We  want  no 
clannish  banners  nor  foreign  cliques  to  disturb  the  unity  of 
American  feeling — to  clash  with  American  arms.  The  for- 
eign element  must  either  melt  into  and  amalgamate  with  the 
native  element,  or  battle  lines  will  be  drawn  in  all  our  future 
contests — political,  if  not  military. 

We  cherish  no  hostility  to  any  man  on  account  of  the  acci- 
dent of  his  birth-place,  nor  on  the  score  of  the  religion  which 
he  inherited  from  his  fathers.  If  the  most  uncompromising 
protestant  among  us  had  been  born  in  Ireland,  he  would 
doubtless  have  grown  up  a  firm  believer  in  Romanism.  Nei- 
ther do  we  blame  the  poor  emigrant  for  his  ignorance  cf  our 
institutions  and  the  superstition  which  beclouds  and  benumbs 
his  intellect.  These  are  his  misfortunes,  not  his  faults.  And 
even  the  crknes  of  these  benighted  men  should  be  treated 
with  the  leniency  due  to  children.  They  are  often  but  the 
errors  of  men  who  stmnble  in  darkness.     But  when  it  comes 


A     PATRIOTIC      DONATION.  253 

to  a  question  of  government ;  when  we  are  asked  to  vote  for 
men  to  hold  the  reins  and  the  sword  over  us,  we  say  give  us 
the  intelligent,  honest,  native  sons  of  the  soil,  rather  than 
these  strangers  and  aliens,  who  are  equally  ignorant  of  our 
anguage,  our  laws,  and  our  history. 


A    PATRIOTIC   D0i\ATI0i\. 

When  General  Green  was  retreating  through  the  Caro- 
linas,  after  the  battle  of  the  Cowpens,  and  while  at  Salisbury, 
North  Carolina,  he  put  up  at  a  hotel,  tne  landlady  of  which 
was  Mrs.  EUzabeth  Steele.  A  detachment  of  Americans  liad 
just  had  a  skirmish  with  the  British  under  Cornwallis,  at  the 
Catawba  ford,  and  were  defeated  and  dispersed  ;  and  when 
the  wounded  were  brought  to  the  hotel,  the  General  no  doubt 
felt  somewhat  discouraged,  for  the  fate  of  the  South,  and 
perhaps  of  the  country  seemed  to  hang  on  the  result  of 
this  memorable  retreat.  Added  to  his  other  troubles 
was  that  of  being  penniless  ;  and  Mrs.  Steele,  learning 
this  fact  by  accident,  and  ready  to  do  anything  in  her 
power  to  further  the  cause  of  freedom,  took  him  aside,  and 
drew  from  under  her  apron  two  bags  of  specie.  Presenting 
them  to  him  she  generously  said,  "  Take  these,  for  you  will 
want  them,  and  I  can  do  without  them." 


2')4  THE      FREEMA,\'S      HOME. 


THE   FREEMAX'S   HOME. 

BY   J.   G.   WHITTIER. 

Land  of  the  forest  and  the  rock — 

Of  dark-blue  lake  and  mighty  river — 
Of  mountains  rear'd  aloft  to  mock 
The  storm's  career,  the  lightning's  shock — 

My  own  green  land  for  ever  ! 
Land  of  the  beautiful  and  brave^ — 
The  freeman's  home — the  martyr's  grave — 
The  nursery  of  giant  men, 
Whose  deeds  have  Ihik'd  with  every  glen, 
And  every  hill,  and  every  stream, 
The  romance  of  some  warrior-dream  ! 
Oh  !  never  may  a  son  of  thine, 
Where'er  his  wandering  steps  incline, 
Forget  the  sky  which  bent  above 
His  childhood  like  a  dream  of  love — 
The  stream  beneath  the  green  hill  flowuig, 
The  broad-arm'd  trees  above  it  growing. 
The  clear  breeze  through  the  foliage  blowmg  ; 
Or  hear,  unmoved,  the  taunt  of  scorn 
Breathed  o'er  the  brave  New  England  born  ; 


THE      FREEMA'-'S      HOME.  255 

Or  mark  the  stranger's  jaguar-hand 

Disturb  the  ashes  of  thy  dead, 
The  buried  glory  of  a  land 

Whose  soil  with  noble  blood  is  red, 
And  sanctified  in  every  part, — 

Nor  feel  resentment,  like  a  brand, 
Unsheathing  from  Ms  fiery  heart  ! 

Oh  I  greener  hills  may  catch  the  sun 

Beneath  the  glorious  heaven  of  France  ; 
And  streams,  rejoicing  as  they  run 

Like  life  beneath  the  day-beam's  glance, 
May  wander  where  the  orange-bough 
With  golden  fruit  is  bending  low  ; 
And  there  may  bend  a  brighter  sky 
O'er  green  and  classic  Italy — 
And  pillar'd  fane  and  ancient  grave 

Bear  record  of  another  time. 
And  over  shaft  and  architrave 

The  green,  luxuriant  ivy  climb  ; 
And  far  towards  the  rising  sun 

The  palm  may  shake  its  leaves  on  high, 
Where  flowers  are  opening,  one  by  one. 

Like  stars  upon  the  twilight  sky  ; 
And  breezes  soft  as  sighs  of  love 

Above  the  broad  banana  stray. 
And  through  the  Brahmin's  sacred  grove 

A  thousand  brierht-hued  pinions  play  ! 


256  THE    freeman's    Hume. 

Yet  unto  thee,  New  England,  still 

Thy  wandering  sons  shall  stretch  their  arms, 
And  thy  rude  chart  of  rock  and  hill 

Seem  dearer  than  the  land  of  palms  ; 
Thy  massy  oak  and  mountain-pine 

More  welcome  than  the  banyan's  shade, 
And  every  fi*ee,  blue  stream  of  thine 

Seem  richer  than  the  golden  bed 
Of  oriental  waves,  which  glow 
And  sparkle  with  the  wealth  below  I 


WASHINGTON. 


WASHIXGTO.\. 

BY     CHIEF     JUSTICE     MARSHALL. 

General  Washington  was  rather  above  the  common  size  ; 
his  frame  was  robust,  and  his  constitution  vigorous,  capable 
of  enduring  great  fatigue,  and  requiring  a  considerable  degree 
of  exercise  for  the  preservation  of  his  health.  His  exterior 
created  in  the  beholder  the  idea  of  strength  united  with  manly 
gracefulness.  His  manners  were  rather  reserved  than  free, 
though  they  partook  nothing  of  that  dryness  and  sternness 
which  accompany  reserve  when  carried  to  an  extreme  ;  and, 
on  all  proper  occasions,  he  could  relax  sufficiently  to  show 
how  highly  he  was  gratified  by  the  chaims  of  conversation 
and  the  pleasures  of  society.  His  person  and  whole  deport- 
ment exhibited  an  unaffected  and  indescribable  dignity,  unmin- 
gled  with  haughtiness,  of  which  all  who  approached  him 
were  sensible  ;  and  the  attachment  of  those  who  possessed 
his  friendship,  and  enjoyed  his  intimacy,  was  ardent,  but 
always  respectful.  His  temper  was  humane,  benevolent,  and 
conciliatory ;  but  there  was  a  quickness  in  his  sensibility  to 
anything  apparently  offensive,  which  experience  had  taught 
him  to  watch  and  to  correct.  In  the  management  of  his 
private  affairs,  he  exhibited  an  exact,  yet  liberal  economy. 
His  fur  i§  were  not  prodigally  wasted  on  capricious  and  ill- 


258  WASH  IXC  TON.    . 

examined  schemes,  uor  refused  to  beneficial  though  costly 
improvements.  They  remained,  therefore,  competent  to  that 
expensive  establishment  which  his  reputation,  added  to  a 
hospitable  temper,  had  in  some  measure  imposed  upon  him, 
and  to  those  donations  which  real  distress  has  a  right  to  claim 
from  opulence.  He  made  no  pretensions  to  that  vivacity  which 
fascinates,  or  to  that  wit  which  dazzles  and  frequently  imposes 
on  tlie  understanding.  More  solid  than  brilliant,  judgment 
rather  than  genius,  constituted  the  most  prominent  feature  of 
his  character.  As  a  military  man,  he  was  brave,  enterprising, 
and  cautious.  That  mahgnity  which  has  sought  to  strip  him 
of  all  the  higher  qualities  of  a  general,  has  conceded  to  him 
personal  courage,  and  a  firmness  of  resolution  which  neither 
dangers  nor  difficulties  could  shake.  But  candor  Avill  allow 
him  other  great  and  valuable  endowments.  If  his  military 
course  does  not  abound  with  splendid  achievements,  it  exhibits 
a  series  of  judicious  measures,  adapted  to  circumstances,  which 
probably  saved  his  country.  Placed,  without  having  studied 
the  theory,  or  been  taught  m  the  school  of  experience  the 
practice  of  war,  at  the  head  of  an  undisciplined,  ill-organized 
multitude,  which  was  unused  to  the  restraints  and  unac- 
quainted with  the  ordinary  duties  of  a  camp,  without  the  aid 
of  officers  possessing  those  lights  which  the  commander-in- 
chief  was  yet  to  acquire,  it  w^ould  have  been  a  miracle,  indeed, 
had  his  conduct  been  absolutely  faultless.  But,  possessing  an 
energetic  and  distinguishing  mind,  on  which  the  lessons  of 
experience  were  never  lost,  his  errors,  if  he  committed  any, 
were  quickly  repaired  ;  and  those  measures  which  the  state 


WASHINGTON.  259 

of  things  rendered  most  advisable  were  seldom,  if  ever,  neglect- 
ed. Inferior  to  his  adversary  in  the  numbers,  in  the  equip- 
ment, and  in  the  discipline  of  his  troops,  it  is  evidence  of  real 
merit,  that  no  great  and  decisive  advantages  were  ever 
obtained  over  him,  and  the  opportunity  to  strike  an  important 
blow  never  passed  away  unused.  He  has  been  termed  the 
American  Fabius  ;  but  those  who  compare  his  actions  with 
his  means,  will  perceive  at  least  as  much  of  Marcellus  as  of 
Fabius  in  his  character.  He  could  not  have  been  more  enter- 
prising without  endangering  the  cause  he  defended,  nor  have 
put  more  to  hazard  without  incurring  justly  the  imputation 
of  rashness.  Not  relying  upon  those  chances  which  some- 
tunes  give  a  favorable  issue  to  attempts  apparently  desperate, 
his  conduct  was  regulated  by  calculations  made  upon  the 
capacities  of  his  army,  and  the  real  situation  of  his  country. 

No  truth  can  be  uttered  with  more  confidence  than  that 
the  ends  of  Washington  were  always  upright,  and  his  means 
always  pure.  He  exhibits  the  rare  example  of  a  politician  to 
whom  wiles  were  absolutely  unknown,  and  whose  professions 
to  foreign  governments,  and  to  his  own  countrymen,  were 
always  sincere.  In  hun  was  fully  exemplified  the  real  dis- 
tinction which  for  ever  exists  between  wisdom  and  cunning, 
and  the  importance  as  well  as  trutfi  of  the  maxim  that  ''hon- 
esty is  the  best  policy."  If  Washington  possessed  ambition, 
that  passion  was,  in  his  bosom,  so  regulated  by  principles,  or 
controlled  by  cu-cumstances,  that  it  V\'as  neither  vicious  nor 
turbulent.  Intrigue  was  never  employed  as  the  means  of  its 
gratification  ;    nor  was  personal  aggrandizement  its  object. 


2SbU  M'AtiHINGTON. 

The  various  high  and  important  stations  to  vvhich  he  was 
called  by  the  public  voice,  were  unsought  by  himself ;  and, 
in  consenting  to  fill  them,  he  seems  ratlier  to  have  yielded  to 
a  general  conviction  that  the  interests  of  his  country  would 
be  thereby  promoted,  than  to  his  particular  inclination. 
Neither  the  extraordinary  partiahty  of  the  American  people, 
the  extravagant  praises  which  were  bestowed  upon  him, 
nor  the  inveterate  opposition  and  malignant  calumni^^  which 
he  experienced,  had  any  visible  influence  upon  nis  con- 
duct. The  cause  is  to  be  looked  for  in  the  texture  of  his 
mind.  In  him,  that  innate  and  uiassuming  modesty  which 
adulation  would  have  offended,  which  the  voluntary  plaudits 
of  millions  could  not  betray  into  indiscretion,  and  which  never 
obtruded  upon  others  his  claims  to  superior  consideration,  was 
happily  blended  with  a  high  and  correct  sense  of  personal 
dignity,  and  with  a  just  consciousness  of  that  respect  which  is 
due  to  station.  Without  exertion,  he  could  maintain  the 
happy  medium  between  that  arrogance  which  wounds,  and 
that  facihty  which  allows  the  office  to  be  degraded  in  the 
person  who  fills  it.  It  is  impossible  to  contemplate  the  great 
events  which  have  occurred  in  the  United  States,  under  the 
auspices  of  Washington,  without  ascribing  them,  in  some 
measure,  to  him.  If  we  ask  the  causes  of  the  prosperous  issue 
of  a  war,  against  the  successful  termination  of  which  there 
were  so  many  probabihties  ;  of  the  good  which  was  produced, 
and  the  ill  which  was  avoided,  during  an  administration  fated 
to  contend  with  the  strongest  prejudices  that  a  combination 
of  circumstances  and  of  passions  could  produce  ;  of  the  con- 


WASHIXGTOX.  261 

stant  favor  of  the  great  mass  of  his  fellow  citizens,  and  of 
the  confidence  which,  to  the  last  moment  of  his  life,  they 
reposed  in  him, — the  answer,  so  far  as  these  causes  may  be 
found  in  his  character,  will  furnish  a  lesson  well  meriting  the 
attention  of  those  who  are  candidates  for  political  fame. 
Endowed  by  nature  with  a  sound  judgment,  and  an  accurate, 
discriminating  mind,  he  feared  not  that  laborious  attention 
which  made  him  perfectly  master  of  those  subjects,  in  all  their 
relations,  on  which  he  was  to  decide  ;  and  this  essential 
quality  was  guided  by  an  unvarying  sense  of  moral  right, 
which  would  tolerate  the  employment  only  of  those  means 
that  would  bear  the  most  rigid  examination ;  by  a  fairness 
of  intention  which  neither  sought  nor  required  disguise ; 
and  by  a  purity  of  virtue  which  was  not  only  untainted,  but 
unsuspected. 


262  ^TIS     A     GLORIOUd      LAND, 


'TIS   A   GLORIOUS    LAND. 

BY   W.   J.   PABODIE. 

Our  country  1 — 'tis  a  glorious  land  ! 

With  broad  arms  stretch'd  from  shore  to  shore, 
The  proud  Pacific  chafes  her  strand, 

She  hears  the  dark  Atlantic  roar  ; 
And,  nurtured  on  her  ample  breast. 

How  many  a  goodly  prospect  lies 
In  Nature's  wildest  grandeur  drest, 

Enamell'd  with  her  lovehest  dyes. 

Rich  prauies,  deck'd  with  flowers  of  gold, 

Like  sunlit  oceans  roll  afar  ; 
Broad  lakes  her  azure  heavens  behold, 

Reflecting  clear  each  trembling  star. 
And  mighty  rivers,  mountain-born, 

Go  sweeping  onward,  dark  and  deep. 
Through  forests  where  the  bounding  fawn 

Beneath  their  sheltering  branches  leap. 

And,  cradled  mid  her  clustering  hills, 
Sweet  vales  in  dreamlike  beauty  hide, 

Where  love  the  air  with  music  fills  ; 
And  calm  content  and  peace  abide  ; 


'tis    a    glorious    land.  263 

For  plenty  Iv^ve  lier  fulness  pours 

In  rich  profusion  o'er  the  laud, 
And,  sent  to  seize  her  generous  store, 

There  prowls  no  tyrant's  hireling  baud. 

Great  God  !  w.  thank  thee  for  this  tome — 

This  bounteous  birthland  of  the  free  ; 
Where  wanderers  fi'om  afar  may  come, 

And  breathe  the  air  of  liberty  ! — 
Still  may  her  flowers  untrampled  sprmg, 

Her  harvests  wave,  her  cities  rise  ; 
And  yet,  till  Time  shall  fold  his  wing, 

Remain  Earth's  loveliest  paradise  ; 


264  WOMEN     OF     THE     MAYFLOWER, 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  MAYFLOWER. 

BY   ELIZABETH   OAKES   SMITH. 

In  the  northeast  part  of  our  country  there  is  a  lowly  ever- 
greeu  plant,  a  species  of  the  arbutus,  I  believe,  for  I  never 
analyzed  it, — we  never  do  analyze  anything  that  we  love, — 
but  which  is  called  by  children  and  people  who  do  not  affect 
to  be  scientific,  the  May  Flower.  It  is  an  exceedingly  deli- 
cate and  lovely  flower,  of  a  pale  pink,  growing  in  clusters  amid 
the  rich  evergreen  leaves,  and  so  fragrant  as  to  scent  the  air 
with  its  violet-Uke  perfume.  I  remember  the  delight  with 
which,  in  my  childhood,  I  used  to  join  our  group  of  school-girls 
in  quest  of  this  harbinger  of  spring,  peermg  with  its  sunny 
yet  timid  aspect  from  amid 

'  The  springy  moss  just  crisping  back," 

as  the  little  foot  of  a  companion  left  the  yet  spongy  hillock. 

The  first  of  May  is  a  great  day  to  the  child  of  that  north- 
ern chmate,  pent  for  so  many  months  from  the  green  blessed- 
ness of  nature  ;  and  my  heart  beats  now  at  the  remembered 
thrill,  and  the  spontaneous  shout,  that  recorded  the  discovery 
of  a  May  Flower.  How  the  little  group  gathered  about  it. 
How  daintily  we  took  it  from  the  wet  soil.  How  eagerly  it 
passed  from  no«;e  to  rose.     Your  pardon,  reader,  if  you  have 


WOMEN     OF     THE     MAYFLOWtH.  265 

not  a  proper  respect  for  that  delicate  sense,  the  perfection  of 
which  is  the  best  mdication  of  "thorough  breeding." 

How  the  cry  of  "May  Flowers  !  May  Flowers  !"  extended 
the  circle.  How  the  gh'ls  came  leaping  and  bounding  from 
knoll  to  knoll,  over  "sodden  logs,"  out  from  the  verge  of  the 
woods,  down  from  the  ledge,  round  by  the  black  pool,  and 
all  up  to  the  bit  of  firm  ground  upon  the  side  of  the  hill, 
where  the  May  Flower  had  ventured  thus  into  the  sunshine, 
although 

"  The  snow  yet  in  the  hollow  lies." 

God  be  praised  for  the  memory  of  such  tilings ;  and  for 
the  love  he  has  planted  in  our  hearts  for  his  own  beautiful 
creations.  The  love  that  will  make  us  encounter  peril  and 
discomfort  in  any  shape,  that  we  may  look  upon  his  "  handy 
work."  The  heart  has  much  to  fear  for  itself,  that  does  not 
glow  with  pleasure  at  the  sight  of  a  flower :  it  has  wandered 
far  fi'om  the  gate  of  heaven  ;  for  the  sense  of  the  beautiful  is 
the  link  that  binds  us  to  the  angels. 

At  first  sight,  the  name,  "  May  Flower," — for  this  lovely 
yet  lowly  evergreen,  appearmg  as  it  often  does  in  sunny  spots 
and  uplands  even  in  March,  when  the  season  is  moderate, 
ready  to  bloom  at  the  first  caressings  of  sunshine  in  our  cold 
northern  latitude, — seems  inefficient  and  indefinite  ;  but  a 
glance  at  historic  association  will  give  the  name,  "May 
Flower,"  a  pecuhar  and  touching  appositeness. 

It  was  the  name  of  the  frail  bark  that  bore  the  Pilgrims 
to  our  shores.     This  pale,  pink  blossom,  with  its  surpassing 

12 


266  WOMEN     OF     THE     MAYFLOWER. 

fragrance,  was  the  first  to  greet  the  eye  of  w^oraan,  when  the 
bleak  winter  abated  its  rigors  ;  and  the  sunshine,  in  reveaUng 
its  beauty,  whispered,  all  is  not  utterly  baiTen  and  desolate 
in  this  "howling  wilderness  ;"  and  she  called  it  the  May 
Flower,  partly  in  reference  to  the  ship  that  had  borne  her 
hither,  partly  in  memory  of  the  Maypole,  bedecked  with  blos- 
soms in  "fatherland." 

To  me,  this  flower  is  a  link  binding  the  sex  of  the  present 
day  to  the  suifering,  strr.ggling,  devoted,  and  umecorded 
matrons  of  that  day  of  hardy  toil,  and  self-sacrificing  love  and 
duty.  I  look  into  its  meek  face,  and  see,  in  my  mmd's  eye, 
the  pale,  drooping  women  of  those  days,  who  stifled  the 
weakness  of  the  sex,  smothered  the  heart's  yearnings,  and 
noljly  and  patiently  died,  while  their  stern  husbands  and  fathers 
laid  the  corner-stone  of  empire,  and  planted,  in  the  midst  of 
blood  and  peril,  the  handful  of  corn,  the  "fruit  thereof  to 
shake  like  Lebanon." 

Ay,  touching,  most  touching,  in  this  jioint  of  view,  does  this 
blossom  become  to  me,  emblematic,  as  flowers  always  are,  of 
the  tenderness,  the  beauty,  and  the  devotedness  of  woman, 
blessing  with  her  life-restoring  love,  not  the  garden  and  the 
palace  wall  alone,  but  the  waste  places  of  poverty,  and  the 
desolate  and  arid  wilds  of  grief  and  pain, 

The  May  Flower,  blooming  amidst  slec-t  and  snow,  fragrant, 
lowly,  evergreen,  and  most  beautiful,  is  peculiarly  appropriate 
as  an  emblem  of  the  wives  and  the  daughters  of  the  Pilgrim 
Fathers.  This  one  blossom  decking  the  hoary  crown  of 
winter,  is  like  the  pitying  gift  of  spring ;  so  they  with  their 


WOMEX     OF     THE     MAYFLOWER.  26t 

liardy  graces  must  have  served  somewhat  to  abate  tit  savage- 
ness  of  vu'tue  in  those  hard  priucipled,  hard  thmking  men  ; — 
and  there  let  me  not  be  supposed  to  speak  uTeverently. 

It  l.as  sometunes  l^een  attempted  to  soften  down  the  aspe- 
rities of  the  Pilgrim  character  into  something  more  accordant 
with  the  geniahties  of  life  than  what  appears  upon  the  face 
of  history.  It  is  a  futile  task.  They  were  men  of  a  great 
age,  men  habituated  to  daring  and  subtle  thought,  who  had 
learned  to  grasp  what  they  beheved  to  be  truth,  even  with 
the  desperation  of  those  who  clung  to  the  horns  of  the  altar  ; 
and  they  had  accustomed  themselves  to  the  heroic  bearing 
of  those  ready  to  lay  down  their  lives  for  its  sake.  They 
were  Cromwell-men,  Milton-men,  full  of  the  arrogance  of 
manly  prerogative,  little  careful  for  the  gentleness  suited  to 
lady's  bower,  and  rarely  disposed  to  turn  aside  to  the  "  delec- 
table fields"  of  merely  domestic  enjoyment. 

Indeed,  men  who  had  nobly  converted  the  hearth-stone  into 
an  altar  for  the  Most  High,  and  each  declared  himself, 
"  Priest  unto  the  Lord,"  in  the  stern  simplicity  of  primitive 
worship,  inasmuch  as  they  had  spurned  from  them  the  vest- 
ments of  popery,  were  likely,  in  assuming  the  sacred  office,  by 
an  instinctive  reverence,  to  assume  a  portion  of  the  monkish- 
ness  hitherto  associated  therewith  ;  and  hence  arose,  in  part, 
that  severity  of  life,  that  sternness  of  disciphne,  that  ascetic 
renunciation  of  the  natm-al  tendencies  of  the  hi5man  heart, 
that  rejection  of  human  sympathy,  and  rooting  out  as  it  were 
of  human  sensibilities. 

They  had  engrafted  the  unyieldingness  of  the  stoic  upon 


268  WOMEN     OF     THE     MAYFLOWER. 

the  sublime  charities  of  Jesus,  and  nerved  themselves  to  a 
superiority  to  the  ordinary  emotions  of  humanity.  They  had 
searched  for  truth,  and  having  found  what  they  regarded  as 
such,  they  rightly  judged  that  no  truth  is  of  value  except  as 
it  becomes  a  principle  of  action.  Alas  !  truth  is  always 
progressive,  always  moving  in  a  path  for  ever  brightening  to 
her  followers  ;  but  prejudice  and  error  seize  upon  him  who 
dares  to  stop  in  her  pathway,  as  did  the  men  of  those  days. 

The  Pilgrims  were  not  men  full  of  the  sweet  charities  of 
life.  They  were  men  for  reverence,  not  for  love.  They  were 
men  of  severe  duty,  often  of  high  thought,  men  jealous  of 
freedom,  tenacious  of  principle,  yet  men  of  a  wondrous  subtlety 
of  logic,  by  which,  however  arbitrary,  cruel,  and  unjust  became 
their  civil  and  ecclesiastical  decisions,  they  were  able  to  make 
them  square  with  the  principles  of  their  associations,  and  the 
great  objects  of  the  colony. 

I  say  not  this  to  disparage  these  venerable  men.  One 
whose  veins  are  coursed  with  the  Pilgrim  blood  is  not  likely 
to  undervalue  it.  But  it  would  be  imputing  to  them  super- 
human power  of  mind,  to  suppose  that  these  men,  exiles  from 
then'  native  land,  volunteers,  indeed,  yet  exiles, — and  every 
patriot  will  understand  the  depth  of  the  sentiment  of  love  for 
one's  country — sufferers  from  famine  and  from  pestilence,  with 
inadequate  shelter  from  an  inclement  latitude ;  weighed  by 
the  gloom  of  measureless  and  unknown  forests,  haunted  by 
the  faith  in  the  supernatural,  augmented  into  tenfold  power 
by  the  solitude  ani  immensity  of  nature,  and  daily  and  hourly 
oxpos<>d  to  savagi   warfare  ;  it  would,  I  say,  be  imputing  to 


WOMEN     OF     THE     MAYFLOWER,  269 

such  men  super-human  power  of  mind,  to  suppose  they  could 
preserve  the  vividness  and  the  magnanimity  of  thought  under 
such  curcumstances, — far  less,  that  they  could  indulge  in  the 
softening  charities  of  life. 

^0,  no '  the  Pilgrims  learned  to  reject  these  things  as 
subordinate  to  the  great  purposes  of  their  mission.  They 
subdued  the  promptings  of  nature,  that  they  might  be  unshack- 
led in  the  contest  which  it  involved.  They  stifled  the  plead- 
ings of  their  own  hearts,  that  thought  might  be  free  and 
triumphant ;  and,  alas  1  in  our  goodly  heritage  of  political 
and  intellectual  freedom,  they  have  bequeathed  also  a  portion 
of  then'  rehgious  intolerance,  and  that  very  hardness  of  cha- 
racter, that  superiority  of  thought  over  affection,  which  to  them 
was  a  secret  of  power  and  success. 

So  far  as  om'  sex  is  concerned,  the  records  of  those  times 
are  barren  indeed  ;  yet,  where  women  is,  as  in  that  day  of 
peril  and  darkness,  and  bereavement  and  cold  intellectual 
speculation,  there  must  have  been  griefs,  bitter  and  heart- 
breaking. There  must  have  been  crushed  affections,  yearn- 
ings for  tenderness  and  sympathy,  too  great  for  womanly 
endurance,  sobbings  stifled  in  the  sternness  of  duty,  and  a 
weariness  of  hfe  hard  to  be  borne.  Yet  from  this  must  have 
arisen  a  desire  to  cope  with  these  lords  of  creation,  in  thought 
at  least,  if  that  w^as  from  henceforth  to  be  the  ground  of 
sympathy  ;  for  woman  is  sure  to  look  about  for  new  combina- 
tions for  affection — a  new  form  of  the  altar,  since  the  old 
is  destroyed,  upon  which  she  may  hang  the  sweet  garlands 
of  her  love. 


2t0  WOMEN     OF     THE     MAYFLOWER. 

Hence,  she  began  to  think,  to  cavil ;  hence,  we  have,  to 
this  day,  the  tendency  to  identify  ourselves  with  the  principles, 
whether  in  politics  or  religion,  of  those  we  love,  not  blindly, 
but  with  searchingncss  and  patient  thought.  Hence  the  rest- 
less action  of  the  female  mind  throughout  New  England,  and 
that  preponderance  of  intellectual  development,  so  remarkable, 
and  becoming  effective,  not  only  in  pohit  of  duty,  but  moral 
harmony. 

In  the  earliest  settlement  of  the  colony — barren  as  are  the 
details  of  the  times  m  that  respect — we  have  three  remarkable 
types  of  womanhood  recorded  as  episodes  in  our  colonial  his- 
tory ;  for  historians  rarely,  in  recountuig  events  in  which 
women  are  concerned,  give  a  straightforward,  manful  detail, 
but  content  themselves  with  an  "  aside,"  as  it  were  ;  and  this 
is  to  be  understood  as  a  proper  tribute  to  the  modesty  of  the 
sex,  which  is  to  shrink  from  justice  even,  if  it  involve  publicity. 

The  first  type  is  in  that  of  the  mother  of  Peregrme  White, 
who  must  have  been  a  cheerful,  active,  beautiful  woman,  able 
to  cope  in  an  off-hand  practical  manner  with  the  worst  hard- 
ships of  a  new  world  life.  She  must  have  had  a  certain 
audacious  affectionateness,  by  which  she  disarmed  the  ferocity 
of  polemic  discussion,  or  Nathaniel  Morton  would  never  have 
thought  it  worth  while  to  notice  the  bh'th  of  little  Peregrine, 
in  the  midst  of  his  registry  of  the  hardships  of  the  "  godly." 

The  second  was  the  lady  Arabella  Jonson,  whose  brief  his- 
tory is  far  more  touchingly  effective  than  any  embellishment 
of  fancy.  She  and  her  husband,  who  survived  her  but  a  few 
we^ks,  had  sadly  mistaken  their  vocation,  when,  in  the  excess 


WOMEN      OF     THE     MAYFLOWER,  271 

of  religious  and  political  zeal  they  tempted  the  hardships  of 
the  wilderness. 

The  shght  glunpse  we  have  of  Arabella  Jonson  is  one  of  per- 
fect loYeliness  ;  full  of  the -tenderness  of  sentunent,  and  the 
refinement  of  eleg^int  life.  She  is  a  creature  the  imagination 
delights  to  contemplate,  whose  moral  greatness  made  her  for- 
get her  disabilities  of  physical  power  ;  whose  intellect  seemed 
only  second  to  her  delicacy  and  tenderness,  and  these  again 
sul)ordinate  to  her  resolute  devotedness.  She  is  the  embodied 
poetry  of  the  Pilgrim  race. 

The  third  is  Anne  Hutchinson,  a  woman  altogether  so 
remarkable  as  to  throw  the  whole  colony  into  a  ferment  by 
the  rigor  of  her  understanding,  and  the  force  and  boldness  with 
which  she  advocated  her  opinions.  She  it  was  who  occasioned 
the  meeting  of  the  first  synod  in  America,  who  came  together 
expressly  to  examine  and  condemn  what  were  called  her 
heresies. 

We,  at  this  late  day,  with  only  the  bald  details  of  her 
opposers  upon  which  to  base  our  opinions  of  her  character, 
can  hardly  hope  to  do  justice  to  one  so  superior  to  the  gene- 
rality of  her  sex.  If  her  courage  was  not  feminine,  it  was  at 
least  Pilgrim-like.  It  was  equal  to  those  of  the  other  sex 
with  whom  she  had  to  compete,  and  far  above  that  of  the 
women  of  the  day,  who,  till  she  began  to  question  the  doc- 
trines of  the  leaders,  and  to  look  at  their  dogmas  with  her 
acuteness  of  perception,  and  wondrous  grasp  of  reason,  had 
tamely  echoed  then  thoughts,  and  submitted  to  their  exac- 
tions. 


272  WOMtJN     OF     THE     MAYFLOWER. 

But  Anne  Hutchinson  began  to  collect  the  women  of  the 
colony  in  her  own  house,  and  examine  coolly  and  keenly  the 
nature  of  023mions,  This  alarmed  the  authorities,  and  she 
was  called  up  for  public  examination  into  what  were  assumed 
to  be  heresies,  because  they  were  opinions  conflictmg  with 
those  of  the  times.  Nothing  can  exceed  the  clear  and  vigor- 
ous manner  in  which  she  defended  herself  upon  this  occasion. 
Of  her  subsequent  banishment  and  her  many  misfortunes,  we 
must  not  write,  as  they  are  historic,  and  would  alter  the  pur- 
port of  this  paper,  which  is  simply  to  exhibit  the  rill,  up  in 
the  recesses  of  the  mountain,  which,  joining  itself  to  otherc  m 
the  process  of  time,  swells  to  the  overflowing  river. 

Anne  Hutchinson,  with  her  affluence  of  thought,  and  her 
clear,  vigorous  understanding,  her  searching  and  courageous 
power  of  combination,  so  beyond  the  age  in  which  she  lived, 
stands  out  as  the  type  of  intellectual  woman,  and  is  the  base 
of  that  large  class  of  thinkers  in  that  section  of  the  country, 
w^ho  command  the  respect  of  the  other  sex,  and  sometimes 
provoke  then*  fears  ;  and  who,  if  not  loyal  to  themselves,  and 
single  in  their  search  for  truth,  may  be  used  hereafter  by 
those  who  dare  not  hope  to  suppress  them  (since  "  banish- 
ment" now  would  little  obviate  ^he  difficulty),  as  were  their 
lively  sisters,  the  other  side  of  the  water,  when  they  w^ere 
enrolled  by  the  Illuminee  into  lodges,  and  made  subservient 
to  the  progress  of  revolution. 

God  grant,  that  the  restless  power  of  thought,  so  charac- 
teristic of  a  New  England  w^oman,  may  keep  even  pace  with 
the  developed  harmonies  of  what  is  truly  womanly,  and  that 


WOMEN     OF     THE     MAYFLOWER.  2t3 

the  religion  which  has  so  much  to  do  with  the  head,  may 
never  retire  from  the  citadel  of  the  heart.  Yet  must  she  not 
be  blamed  for  her  pertinacious  questionings,  smce  doctrine  in 
eyery  possible  shape  is  thrust  in  her  way,  and  the  evils  of 
heresy  so  often  forced  upon  her  thoughts,  and  she  naturally 
begins  to  inquire  wherein  it  consists.  From  the  days  of  the 
Pilgrims  downwards,  this  has  been  the  case,  in  the  pulpit 
and  by  the  fireside  ;  and  even  the  dying  benediction  par- 
takes of  that  model  left  by  "  Mr.  Thomas  Dudley,  the  pillar 
of  the  colony  of  Massachusetts,  who  leaves  his  poetic  injunc- 
tion in  this  wise  : 

"  Farewell,  (J  jar  wife,  children,  and  fi-iends, 
Hatt  heresy,  make  blessed  ends." 


9'^i       WASHINGTON     CROSSING     THE     DELAWARE, 


WASHIJfGTO^  CROSSIIs^G  THE  DELAWARE. 

BY   SEBA  SMITH. 

Dark  and  gloomy  was  the  hour, 
And  Freedom's  fires  burnt  low, 

For  twenty  days  had  Washington 
Retreated  from  the  foe  ; 

And  his  weary  soldiers'  feet  were  bare 

As  he  fled  across  the  Delaware. 

Hearts  were  fainting  through  the  land, 

And  patriot-blood  ran  cold  ; 
The  stricken  army  scarce  retain'd 

Two  thousand  men,  all  told  ; 
While  the  British  arms  gleam'd  everywhere, 
From  the  Hudson  to  the  Delaware. 

Cold  and  stormy  came  the  night ; 

The  great  Chief  roused  his  men  ; 
"  Now,  up,  brave  comrades,  up  and  strike 

For  Freedom  once  again  ; 
For  the  Lion  sleepeth  in  his  lair, 
On  the  left  bank  of  Delaware. 


WASHINGTON     CROS-s    NG     THE     DELAWARE.       275 

How  the  strong  oars  clash  the  ice 

Amid  the  tempest's  roar  1 
And  how  the  trumpet-voice  of  Knox 

Still  cheers  them  to  the  shore  I 
Thus,  in  the  freezing  midnight  air, 
Those  brave  hearts  cross'd  the  Delaware. 

In  the  morning,  grey  and  dim, 

The  snout  of  battle  rose, 
And  the  Chief  led  back  his  valiant  men 

With  a  thousand  captive  foes, 
While  Trenton  shook  with  the  cannon's  blare, 
That  told  the  new^s  o'er  the  Delaware. 


276  MONUMENT     TO     MARY     WASHINGTON. 


THE  MONUMENT  TO  MARY  WASHINGTON. 

ADDRESS   OP  ANDREW   JA.CKSON. 

We  are  assembled,  fellow-citizens,  to  witness  and  assist  in 
an  interesting  ceremony.  More  than  a  century  has  passed 
away  since  she  to  whom  this  tribute  of  respect  is  about  to  be 
paid,  entered  upon  the  active  scenes  of  life.  A  century  fertile 
in  w^onderful  events,  and  of  distinguished  men  who  have 
jDarticipated  in  them.  Of  these  our  country  has  furnished  a 
full  share  ;  and  of  these  distinguished  men  she  has  produced  a 
Washington  1  If  he  was  "  first  in  war,  first  in  peace,  first  in 
the  hearts  of  his  countrymen,"  we  may  say,  without  the  impu- 
tation of  national  vanity,  that  if  not  the  first,  he  was  in  the 
very  first  rank  of  those,  too  few  indeed,  upon  whose  career 
mankind  can  look  back  without  regret,  and  wiiose  memory 
and  example  will  furnish  themes  of  euology  for  the  patriot, 
wherever  free  institutions  are  honored  and  maintained.  His 
w^as  no  false  glory,  deriving  its  lustre  from  the  glare  of  splen- 
did and  destructive  actions^  commencing  in  professions  of 
attachment  to  his  country,  and  terminating  in  the  subversion 
of  her  freedom.  Far  difierent  is  the  radiance  w^hich  surrounds 
his  name  and  fame.  It  shines  mildly  and  equally,  and  guides 
the  philanthropist  and  citizen  in  the  path  of  duty  ;  and  it  will 
guide  them,  long  after  those  false  lights,  which  have  attracted 
too  much  attention,  shall  have  been  extinguished  in  darkness. 


MONUMENT     TO     MARY     WASHINGTON.  271 

In  the  grave  before  us,  lie  the  remams  of  his  Mother. 
Long  has  it  been  unmarked  by  any  monumental  tablet,  but 
not  unhonored.  You  have  taken  the  pious  duty  of  erecting  a 
column  to  her  name,  and  of  inscribing  upon  it,  the  simple  but 
affecting  words,  "  Mary,  the  Mother  of  Washington."  No 
eulogy  eould  be  higher  ;  and  it  appeals  to  the  heart  of  every 
American. 

These  memorials  of  affection  and  gratitude  are  consecrated 
by  the  practice  of  all  ages  and  nations.  They  are  tributes 
of  respect  to  the  dead,  but  they  convey  practical  lessons  of 
virtue  and  wisdom  to  the  living.  The  mother  and  sou  are 
beyond  the  reach  of  human  applause  ;  but  the  bright  example 
of  paternal  and  filial  excellence,  which  their  conduct  furnishes, 
cannot  but  produce  the  most  salutary  effects  upon  our  country- 
men. Let  their  example  be  before  us  from  the  first  lesson  which 
is  taught  the  child,  till  the  mother's  duties  yield  to  the  course 
of  preparation  and  action  which  nature  prescribes  for  him. 

Tradition  says,  that  the  character  of  Washington  was 
strengthened,  if  not  formed,  by  the  care  and  precepts  of  his 
mother.  She  was  remarkable  for  the  vigor  of  her  intellect 
and  the  firmness  of  her  resolution. 

:f:  ^  HJ  *  *  5f: 

In  tracing  the  few  recollections  which  can  be  gathered  of 
her  principles  and  conduct,  it  is  impossible  to  avoid  the  con- 
viction that  these  were  closely  interwoven  with  the  destiny  of 
her  son.  The  great  pomts  of  his  character  are  before  the 
world.     He  who  runs  may  read  them  in  his  whole  career,  as 


278  MONUMENT    TO     MARV     WASHINGTON. 

a  citizen,  as  a  soldier,  as  a  magistrate.  He  possessed  unerring 
judgment — if  that  term  can  be  applied  to  liuman  nature, — 
great  probity  of  purpose,  high  moral  principles,  perfect  self- 
possession,  untiring  application,  and  an  inquiring  mind,  seeking 
information  from  every  quarter,  and  arriving  at  its  conclusions 
with  a  full  knowledge  of  the  subject ;  and  he  added  to  these 
an  inflexibihty  of  resolution,  which  nothing  could  change  but 
a  conviction  of  error.  Look  back  at  the  hfe  and  conduct  of 
his  mother,  and  at  her  domestic  government,  as  they  have 
this  day  been  delineated  by  the  Chairman  of  the  Monumental 
Committee,  and  as  they  were  known  to  her  contemporaries, 
and  have  been  described  by  them,  and  they  will  be  found 
admirably  adapted  to  form  and  develop,  the  elements  of  such 
a  character.  The  power  of  greatness  was  there  ;  but  had  it 
not  been  guided  and  directed  by  maternal  solicitude  and  judg- 
ment, its  possessor,  instead  of  presentmg  to  the  world 
examples  of  virtue,  patriotism  and  wisdom,  which  will  be 
precious  in  all  succeeding  ages,  might  have  added  to  the  num- 
ber of  those  master-spirits,  whose  fame  rests  upon  the  faculties 
they  have  abused,  and  the  injuries  they  have  committed. 

Fellow-citizens,  at  your  request,  and  in  your  name,  I  now 
deposit  this  plate  in  the  spot  destmed  for  it ;  and  when  the 
American  pilgrim  shall,  in  after  ages,  come  up  to  this  high 
and  holy  place,  and  lay  his  hand  upon  this  sacred  column, 
may  he  recall  the  virtues  of  her  who  sleeps  beneath,  and 
depart  with  his  affections  purified,  and  his  piety  strengthened, 
while  he  invokes  blessings  upon  the  Mother  of  Washington. 


REVOLUTIONARY        EA.  279 


KEVOLUTIONARY   TEA. 

BY   SEBA  SMITH. 

There  was  an  old  lady  lived  over  the  sea, 

And  she  was  an  Island  Queen  ; 
Her  daughter  lived  off  in  a  new  countrie, 

With  an  ocean  of  water  between. 

The  old  lady's  pockets  were  full  of  gold, 

But  never  contented  was  she  ; 
So  she  called  to  her  daughter  to  jDay  her  a  tax 

Gf  "  thrippence"  a  pound  on  her  tea. 

'  Now,  mother,  dear  mother,"  the  daughter  replied, 

"  I  shan't  do  the  thing  that  you  ax  ; 
I'm  willing  to  pay  a  fair  price  for  the  tea, 

But  never  the  thrippenny  tax. 

'  You  shall,"  quoth  the  mother,  and  reddened  with  rag-e, 

"  For  you're  my  own  daughter,  ye  see  ; 
And  sure  'tis  quite  proper  the  daughter  should  pay 
Her  mother  a  tax  on  her  tea." 

And  so  the  old  lady  her  servants  called  up, 

And  pack'd  off  a  budget  of  tea, 
And,  eager  for  thrippence  a  pound,  she  put  in 

Enough  for  a  large  familie. 


280  REVOLUTIONARY     TEA. 

She  ordered  her  servants  to  bring  home  the  tax, 

Declarmg  her  child  should  obey, 
Or,  old  as  she  was,  and  almost  woman-grown. 

She'd  half  whip  her  life  away. 

The  tea  was  conveyed  to  the  daughter's  door, 
All  down  by  the  ocean  side, 
.    And  the  bouncing  girl  poured  out  every  pound 
In  the  dark  and  boiling  tide. 

And  then  she  called  out  to  the  Island  Queen, 
"  Oh,  mother,  dear  mother,"  quoth  she, 
"  Your  tea  you  may  have,  when  'tis  steeped  enough, 
But  never  a  tax  from  me —  _ 
No,  never  a  tax  from  me." 


DECLAKATION      OF     INDEPENDENCE.  281 


DECLARATION   OF    mDEPENDEIs^CE. 


When,  in  the  course  of  human  events,  it  becomes  necessary 
for  one  people  to  dissolve  the  poUtical  bands  which  have 
connected  them  with  another,  and  to  assume  among  the 
powers  of  the  earth  the  separate  and  equal  station  to  which 
the  laws  of  nature  and  of  nature's  God  entitle  them,  a 
decent  respect  for  the  opinions  of  mankind  requires,  that 
they  should  declare  the  causes  which  impel  them  to  the  sepa- 
ration. 

We  hold  these  truths  to  be  self-evident — that  all  men  are 
created  equal ;  that  they  are  endowed  by  their  Creator  with 
ce  -tain  inalienable  rights  ;  that  among  these  are  life,  liberty, 
and  the  pursuit  of  happiness.  That,  to  secure  these  rights, 
governments  are  instituted  among  men,  deriving  their  just 
powers  from  the  consent  of  the  governed ;  that  when  any 
form  of  government  becomes  destructive  of  these  ends,  it  is 
the  right  of  the  people  to  alter  or  to  abolish  it,  and  to  insti- 
tute a  new  government,  laying  its  foundation  on  such  prin- 


^82  DECLARATION     OF     INDEPENDENCE. 

ciples,  and  organizing  its  powers  in  such  form,  as  to  them 
shall  seem  most  likely  to  effect  their  safety  and  happiness.  Pru- 
dence, indeed,  will  dictate,  that  governments  long  estab- 
lished should  not  be  changed  for  light  and  transient  causes  ; 
and,  accordingly,  all  experience  has  shown,  that  mankind 
are  more  disposed  to  suffer,  while  evils  are  suflferable,  than  to 
right  themselves  by  abohshing  the  forms  to  which  they  are 
accustomed.  But  when  a  long  tram  of  abuses  and  usuq^a- 
tions,  pursumg  invariably  the  same  object,  evinces  a  design 
to  reduce  them  under  absolute  despotism,  it  is  their  right, 
it  is  their  duty,  to  throw  off  such  government,  and  to  provide 
new  guards  for  their  futm'e  security.  Such  has  been  the 
patient  sufferance  of  these  colonies  ;  and  such  is  now  the 
necessity  which  constrains  them  to  alter  their  former  system 
of  government.  The  history  of  the  present  king  of  Great 
Britain  is  a  history  of  repeated  injuries  and  usurpations,  all 
having  in  direct  object  the  establishment  of  an  absolute 
tyranny  over  these  states.  To  prove  this,  let  facts  be  sub- 
mitted to  a  candid  world. 

He  has  refused  his  assent  to  laws  the  most  wholesome  and 
necessary  for  the  public  good. 

He  has  forbidden  his  governors  to  pass  laws  of  immediate 
and  pressing  importance,  unless  suspended  in  then*  operation 
till  his  assent  should  be  obtamed ;  and  when  so  suspended,  he 
has  utterly  neglected  to  attend  to  them. 

He  has  refused  to  pass  other  laws  for  the  accommodation 
of  large  districts  of  people,  unless  those  people  would  relin- 


DECLARATIOX  OF  INDEPENDENCE.       283 

qiiish  the  right  of  representation  in  the  legislature — a  right 
inestimable  to  them,  and  formidable  to  tyrants  only. 

He  has  called  together  legislative  bodies,  at  places  unusual, 
uncomfortable,  and  distant  from  the  depository  of  their  public 
records,  for  the  sole  purpose  of  fatiguing  them  into  compliance 
with  his  measures. 

He  has  dissolved  representative  houses  repeatedly,  for 
opposing  with  manly  firmness,  his  invasions  on  the  rights  of 
the  people. 

He  has  refused  for  a  long  tune  after  such  dissolutions,  to 
cause  others  to  be  elected ;  wherel^y  the  legislative  powers, 
incapable  of  annihilation,  have  returned  to  the  people  at  large 
for  theii'  exercise ;  the  state  remaining,  in  the  meantime, 
exposed  to  all  the  danger  of  invasion  from  without,  and  con- 
vulsions within. 

He  has  endeavored  to  prevent  the  population  of  these 
states  ;  for  that  purpose  obstructing  the  laws  for  naturaliza- 
tion of  foreigners  ;  refusing  to  pass  others  to  encourage  their 
migration  hither,  and  raising  the  conditions  of  new  appropria- 
tions of  lands. 

He  has  obstructed  the  administration  of  justice,  by  refusing 
his  assent  to  laws  for  establishing  judiciary  powers. 

He  has  made  judges  depend  on  his  will  alone,  for  the 
tenure  of  their  offices,  and  the  amount  and  payment  of  their 
salaries. 

He  has  erected  a  multitude  of  offices,  and  sent  here  swarms 
of  officers  to  harass  our  people,  and  eat  out  their  substance. 


284       DKCLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE, 

He  has  kept  among  us,  in  times  of  peace,  standing  armies 
without  the  consent  of  our  legislatures. 

He  has  affected  to  render  the  miUtary  independent  of,  and 
superior  to,  the  civil  power. 

He  has  combined  with  others,  to  subject  us  to  a  jurisdic- 
tion foreign  to  our  Constitution,  and  unacknowledged  by  om* 
laws ;  giving  his  assent  to  their  acts  of  pretended  legisla- 
tion : ' 

For  quartering  large  bodies  of  armed  troops  among 
us  : 

For  protecting  them,  by  a  mock  trial,  from  punishment 
for  any  murder  they  should  commit  on  the  inhabitants  of 
these  states  : 

For  cutting  off  our  trade  with  all  parts  of  the  world  : 

For  imposing  taxes  on  us  without  our  consent : 

For  depriving  us,  in  many  cases,  of  the  benefits  of  trial  by 

Juiy : 

For  transportmg  us  beyond  seas,  to  be  tried  for  pretended 
offences  : 

For  abolishing  the  free  system  of  English  law  in  a  neigh- 
bormg  province,  establishing  therein  an  arbitrary  government, 
and  enlarging  its  boundaries,  so  as  to  render  it  at  once  an 
example  and  fit  mstrument  for  mtroducing  the  same  absolute 
rule  into  these  colonies  : 

For  taking  away  our  charters,  abolishing  our  most  valu- 
able laws,  and  altering  fundamentally  the  forms  of  our  gov- 
ernments : 


DECLARATION     OF     INDEPENDENCE.  285 

For  suspending  oui'  own  legislatui'es,  and  declaring  them- 
selves invested  with  power,  to  legislate  for  us  in  all  cases 
whatsoever. 

He  has  abdicated  government  here,  by  declaring  us  out  of 
his  protection,  and  wagmg  war  against  us. 

He  has  plundered  our  seas,  ravaged  our  coasts,  burnt  our 
towns,  and  destroyed  the  lives  of  our  people. 

He  is  at  this  time  transporting  large  armies  of  foreign 
mercenaries,  to  complete  the  works  of  death,  desolation  and 
tyranny,  ah'eady  begun,  wdth  circumstances  of  cruelty  and 
perfidy  scarcely  paralleled  in  the  most  barbarous  ages,  and 
totally  unworthy  the  head  of  a  civilized  nation. 

He  has  constrained  our  fellow-citizens,  taken  captive  on  the 
high  seas,  to  bear  arms  against  their  country,  to  become  the 
executioners  of  their  friends  and  brethren,  or  to  fall  them- 
selves by  their  hands. 

He  has  excited  domestic  insurrections  amongst  us,  and  has 
endeavored  to  bring  on  the  inhabitants  of  our  frontiers,  the 
merciless  Indian  savages,  whose  known  rule  of  warfare  is  an 
undistinguished  destruction  of  all  ages,  sexes,  and  condi- 
tions. 

In  every  stage  of  these  oppressions,  we  have  petitioned  for 
redress  in  the  most  humble  terms :  our  petitions  have  been 
answered  only  by  repeated  injmy.  A  prince  whose  character 
is  thus  marked  by  every  act  which  may  define  a  tyrant,  is 
unfit  to  be  the  ruler  of  a  free  people. 

Nor  have  we  been  wanting  in  attention  to  our  British 


286  DECLARATION     OF     INDEPENDENCE. 

brethren.  We  have  warned  them,  from  time  to  time,  of 
attempts  made  by  then*  legislatm-e,  to  extend  an  unwarrant- 
able jm-isdiction  over  us.  We  have  reminded  them  of  the 
circumstances  of  our  emigration  and  settlement  here.  We 
have  appealed  to  theu*  native  justice  and  magnanmiity,  and 
we  have  conjured  them  by  the  ties  of  our  common  kindred, 
to  disavow  these  usm-pations,  which  would  inevitably  interrupt 
our  connections  and  correspondence.  They,  too,  have  been 
deaf  to  the  voice  of  justice  and  consangumity.  We  must, 
therefore,  acquiesce  in  the  necessity,  which  denounces  our 
separation,  and  hold  them,  as  we  hold  the  rest  of  mankmd — 
enemies  m  war  ; — in  peace,  friends. 

We,  therefore,  the  representatives  of  the  United  States  of 
America,  in  general  Congress  assembled,  appealing  to  the 
Supreme  Judge  of  the  world  for  the  rectitude  of  om-  inten- 
tions, DO,  in  the  name  and  by  the  authority  of  the  good  people 
of  these  colonies,  solemnly  publish  and  declare,  that  these 
United  Colonies  are,  and  of  right  ought  to  be,  free  and  inde- 
pendent States  ;  that  they  are  absolved  from  all  allegiance 
to  the  British  Crown,  and  that  all  political  connection 
between  them  and  the  State  of  Great  Britam  is,  and  ought 
to  be,  totally  dissolved  ;  and  that  as  free  and  independent 
States,  they  have  full  power  to  levy  war,  conclude  peace, 
contract  alliances,  establish  commerce,  and  to  do  all  other 
acts  and  things  which  independent  States  may  of  right  do. 
And  for  the  support  of  this  Declaration,  with  a  firm  reli- 
ance on  the  protectio:  of  Divme  Providence,  we  mutually 


DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE. 


287 


pledge  to  each  other  our  lives,  our  fortunes,  and  our  sacred 

honor. 

Signed  by  order  anc.  in  behalf  of  the  Congress, 

John  Hancock,  President. 


Attest,  Charles  Thompson,  Secretary. 


New  Hampshire. 
Josiah  Bartlett, 
William  Whipple, 
Mathew  Thomton. 

Massachusetts  Bay. 
Samuel  Adams, 
John  Adams, 
Robert  Treat  Paine, 
Elbridge  Gerry. 

Rhope  Island. 
Stephen  Hopkins, 
William  Ellery. 

Connecticut. 
Roger  Sherman. 
Samuel  Huntington, 
William  WUliams. 
OUver  Wolcott. 

New  Yor  . 
WiUiam  Floyd, 
Philip  Livingston, 
Francis  Lewis, 
Lewis  Mori-is. 

New  Jersey. 
Richard  Stockton, 
John  Witherspoon, 
Francis  Hopkinson, 
John  Hart, 
Abraham  Clark. 

Pennsylvania. 
Robert  Morris, 
Benjamin  Rush, 
Benjamin  Frankli: 
John  Morton, 


George  Clymer. 
James  Wilson, 
George  Ross. 

Delaware. 
Csesar  Rodney, 
Thomas  M'Kean, 
George  Reec. 

Maryland. 
Samuel  Chase, 
WilUam  Paca, 
Thomas  Stone, 
Charles  Carroll. 
Virginia. 
George  Wythe, 
Richard  Henry  Lee, 
Thomas  Jefferson, 
Benjamin  Harrison, 
Thomas  Nelson,  Jr. 
Francis  Lightfoot  Lee, 
Carter  Braxton. 

North  Carolina. 
William  Hooper, 
Joseph  Hewes, 
John  Perm. 

South  Carolina. 
Edward  Rutledge, 
Thomas  Hey  ward,  Jr. 
Thomas  Lynch,  Jr. 
Arthur  Middleton. 

Georgia. 
Button  Gwmnett, 
Ljrman  Hall, 
George  Walton. 


2b8        CONSTITUTION     OF     THE     UNITED     STATEcJ. 


CINSTITUTION  OF  IHE  UNITED  STATES. 


We,  THE  People  of  the  United  States,  in  order  to  form 
a  more  perfect  Union,  establish  justice,  ensure  domestic  tran- 
quillity, provide  for  the  common  defence,  promote  the  general 
welfare,  and  secure  the  blessmgs  of  liberty  to  ourselves  and 
our  posterity,  do  ordain  and  establish  tliis  Constitution  for 
the  United  States  of  America. 

ARTICLE  I. 

OF    THE    LEGISLATIVE    POWER. 

§  1 .  All  legislative  powers  herein  granted,  shall  be  vested 
in  a  Congress  of  the  United  States,  which  shall  consist  of  a 
Senate  and  House  of  Representatives. 

OF    THE    HOUSE    OF    REPRESENTATIVES. 

§  2.  The  Housi?  of  Representatives  shall  be  composed  of 
members  chosen  everj  second  year  by  the  people  of  the  seve- 


CONSTITUTION     OF     THE     UNITED     STATES.         289 

ral  States ;  and  the  electors  in  each  State  shall  have  the 
qualifications  requisite  for  electors  of  the  most  numerous 
])ranch  of  the  State  Legislature. 

No  person  shall  be  a  representative  who  shall  not  have 
attained  to  the  age  of  twenty-five  years,  and  been  seven  years 
a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  and  who  shall  not,  when 
elected,  be  an  inhabitant  of  that  State  in  which  he  shall  be 
chosen. 

Representatives  and  du'ect  taxes  shall  be  apportioned 
among  the  several  States  which  may  be  included  within  this 
Union,  according  to  their  respective  numbers,  which  shall  be 
determined  by  adding  to  the  whole  number  of  free  persons, 
including  those  bound  to  service  for  a  terra  of  years,  and 
excluding  Indians  not  taxed,  three-fifths  of  all  other  persons. 
The  actual  enumeration  shall  be  made  within  three  years  after 
the  first  meeting  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  and 
within  every  subsequent  term  of  ten  years,  in  such  manner  as 
they  shall  by  law  direct.  The  number  of  representatives  shall 
not  exceed  one  for  every  thirty  thousand,  but  each  State  shall 
have  at  least  one  representative  ;  and  until  such  enumeration 
shall  be  made,  the  State  of  New  Hampshire  shall  be  entitled 
to  choose  three  ;  Massachusetts,  eight ;  Khode  Island  and 
Providence  Plantations,  one  ;  Connecticut,  five  ;  New  York, 
six  ;  New  Jersey,  four  ;  Pennsylvania,  eight ;  Delaware, 
one  ;  Maryland,  six  ;  Virginia,  ten  ;  North  Carolina,  five  ; 
South  Carolina,  five  ;  and  Georgia,  three. 

When  vacancies  happen  in  the  representation  from  any 


290         CONSTITUTION     OF     THE     UNITED     STATES. 

State,  the  executive  autliority  thereof  shall  issue  writs  of 
election  to  fill  such  vacancies. 

Th6  House  of  Representatives  shall  choose  their  speaker 
and  other  officers,  and  shall  have  the  sole  power  of  impeach- 
ment. 

OF    THE    SENATE. 

§  o  The  Senate  of  the  United  States  shall  be  composed 
of  two  senators  from  each  State,  chosen  by  the  Legisla- 
ture thereof,  for  six  years  ;  and  each  senator  shall  have  one 
vote. 

Immediately  after  they  shall  be  assembled,  in  consequence 
of  the  first  election,  they  shall  be  divided  as  equally  as  may 
be  into  three  classes.  The  seats  of  the  senators  of  the  first 
class  shall  be  vacated  at  the  exj^h'ation  of  the  second  year,  of 
the  second  class  at  the  expiration  of  the  fourth  year,  and  of 
the  third  class  at  the  expiation  of  the  sixth  year,  so  that  one 
third  may  be  chosen  every  second  year  ;  and  if  vacancies  hap- 
pen, by  resignation  or  otherwise,  during  the  recess  of  the 
Legislature  of  any  State,  the  Executive  thereof  may  make 
temporary  appointments  until  the  next  meeting  of  the  Legis- 
lature, which  shall  then  fill  such  vacancies. 

No  person  shall  be  a  senator  who  shall  not  have  at> 
taiued  to  the  age  of  thirty  years,  and  been  nine  years  a 
citizen  of  the  United  States,  and  who  shall  not,  when  elect- 
ed, be  an  inhabitant  of  that  State  for  which  he  shall  be 
chosen. 

The  Yice-President  of  the  United  States  shall  be  President 

) 


CONSTITDTION      OF     THE     UNITED     STATES.  291 

of  the  Senate,  but  shall  have  no  vote  unless  they  be  equally 
divided. 

The  Senate  shall  choose  their  other  officers,  and  also  a 
president  pro  tempore,  in  the  absence  of  the  Yice-President, 
or  when  he  shall  exercise  the  office  of  President  of  the  United 
States. 

The  Senate  shall  have  the  sole  power  to  try  all  impeach- 
ments. When  sitting  for  that  purpose,  they  shall  be  on  oath 
or  affirmation.  When  the  President  of  the  United  States  is 
tried,  the  chief  justice  shall  preside  ;  and  no  person  shall  be 
convicted  without  the  concurrence  of  two-thirds  of  the  mem- 
bers present 

Judgment,  in  cases  of  knpeachment,  shall  not  extend 
further  than  to  removal  from  office,  and  disqualification 
to  hold  and  enjoy  any  office  of  honor,  trust,  or  profit,  under 
the  Umted  States  ;  but  the  party  convicted  shall,  never- 
theless, be  liable  and  subject  to  uidictment,  trial,  judgment, 
and  punishment,  according  to  law. 

MANNER    OF    ELECTING   MEMBERS. 

§  4.  The  times,  places,  and  manner  of  holding  elections  for 
senators  and  representatives,  shall  be  jDrescribed  in  each  State 
by  the  Legislature  thereof ;  but  Congress  may  at  any  time, 
by  law,  make  or  alter  such  regulations,  except  as  to  the 
places  of  choosing  senators. 

^' 

CONGRESS    TO    ASSEMBLE    ANNUALLY. 

The  Congress  shall  assemble  at  least  once  in  every  year, 


292  CONSTITUTION     OF     THE     UNITED     STATES. 

and  such  meeting  shall  be  on  the  first  Monday  in  December, 
unless  they  shall  by  law  appoint  a  difierent  day. 

POWERS    OF    THE    HOUSE. 

§  5.  Each  house  shall  be  the  judge  of  the  elections,  returns, 
and  qualifications  of  its  own  members  ;  and  a  majority  of 
each  shall  constitute  a  quorum  to  do  business  ;  but  a  smaller 
number  may  adjourn  from  day  to  day,  and  may  be  author- 
ized to  compel  the  attendance  of  absent  members,  in  such 
manner,  and  under  such  penalties,  as  each  house  may 
provide. 

Each  house  may  determine  the  rules  of  its  proceedmgs, 
punish  its  members  for  disorderly  behavior,  and,  with  the 
concurrence  of  two-thirds,  expel  a  member. 

Each  house  shall  keep  a  journal  of  its  proceedings,  and 
from  time  to  time  publish  the  same,  excepting  such  parts  as 
may,  in  their  judgment,  require  secresy  ;  and  the  yeas  and 
nays  of  the  members  of  either  house,  on  any  question,  shall, 
at  the  desire  of  one-fifth  of  those  present,  be  entered  on  the 
journal. 

Neither  house,  during  the  session  of  Congress,  shall,  with- 
out the  consent  of  the  other,  adjourn  for  more  than  three 
days,  nor  to  any  other  place  than  that  in  which  the  two 
houses  shall  be  sitting. 

§  6.  The  senators  and  representatives  shall  receive  a  com- 
pensation for  their  services,  to  be  ascertained  by  law,  and 
paid  out  of  the  treasury  of  the  United  States.  They  shall  in 
all  cases,  except  treason,  felony,  and  breach  of  the  peace,  be 


CONSTITUTION     OF     THE     UNITED     STATES.        293 

privileged  from  arrest  during  their  attendance  at  the  session 
of  then*  respective  houses,  and  in  going  to  or  returning  from 
the  same  ;  and  for  any  speech  or  debate  in  either  liouse,  they 
shall  not  be  questioned  in  any  other  place. 

Xo  senator  or  representative  shall,  during  the  time  for 
which  he  was  elected,  be  appointed  to  any  civil  office  under 
the  authority  of  the  United  States,  which  shall  have  been 
created,  or  the  emoluments  whereof  shall  have  been  increased 
during  such  time  ;  and  no  person  holding  any  office  under 
the  United  States,  shall  be  a  member  of  either  house  during' 
his  continuance  in  office. 

MANNER    OF    PASSING    BILLS,    ORDERS,    ETC. 

§  7.  All  bills  for  raising  revenue  shall  originate  in  the 
House  of  Representatives  ;  but  .the  Senate  may  propose  or 
concm*  with  amendments,  as  on  other  bills. 

Every  bill  which  shall  have  passed  the  House  of  Repre- 
rentatives  and  the  Senate,  shall,  before  it  becomes  a  law,  be 
presented  to  the  President  of  the  United  States  :  if  h^ 
approve,  he  shall  sign  it ;  but  if  not,  he  shall  return  it,  with 
his  objections,  to  that  house  in  w^hich  if  shall  have  originated, 
who  shall  enter  the  objections  at  large  on  their  journals,  and 
proceed  to  reconsider  it.  If,  after  such  reconsideration,  two- 
thirds  of  that  house  shall  agree  to  pass  the  bill,  it  shall  be 
sent,  together  with  the  objections,  to  the  other  house,  by 
which  it  shall  likewise  be  reconsidered,  and  if  approved  of  by 
two  thirds  of  that  house,  it  shall  become  a  law.  But  in  all 
cases,  the  votes  of  both  houses  shall  be  determined  by  yeas 
and  nays,  and  the  names  of  the  persons  votmg  for  and  against 


294        CONSTITUTION     OP^     THE     UNITED     STATES. 

the  bill  shall  be  entered  on  the  journal  of  each  house  respect- 
ively. If  any  bill  shall  not  ])e  returned  by  the  President 
within  ten  days  (Sundays  excepted)  after  it  shall  have  been 
presented  to  him,  the  same  shall  be  a  law,  in  like  manner  as 
if  he  had  signed  it,  unless  the  Congress,  by  their  adjournment, 
l^revent  its  return,  in  which  case  it  shall  not  be  a  law. 

Every  order,  resolution,  or  vote  to  which  the  concurrence 
of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  may  be  neces- 
sary (except  on  a  question  of  adjournment),  shall  be  pre- 
sented to  the  President  of  the  United  States  ;  and  before  the 
same  shall  take  effect,  shall  be  apj^roved  by  him,  or  being 
disapproved  by  him,  shall  be  repassed  by  two-thirds  of  the 
Senate  and  House  of  Representatives,  according  to  the  rules 
and  limitations  prescribed  in  the  case  of  a  bill. 

POWERS    OF    CONGRESS. 

§  8.  The  Congress  shall  have  power  : 
•  To  lay  and  collect  taxes,  duties,  imposts,  and  excises,  to 
pay  the  debts  and  provide  for  the  common  defence  and 
general  welfare  of  the  United  States  ;  but  all  duties,'  im- 
posts, and  excises,  shall  be  uniform  throughout  the  United 
States  : 

To  borrow  money  on  the  credit  of  the  States  : 

To  regulate  commerce  with  foreign  nations,  and  among  .'he 
several  States,  and  with  the  Indian  tribes  : 

To  establish  an  uniform  rule  of  naturalization,  and  uniform 
laws  on  the  subject  o^  bankruptcies  throughout  the  United 
States  : 


CONSTITUTION'     OF     THE     UNITED     STATES.        295 

To  coin  money,  regulate  the  value  thereof,  and  of  foreign 
coin,  and  fix  the  standard  of  weights  and  measures  : 

To  provide  for  the  punishment  of  counterfeiting  the 
securities  and  current  coin  of  the  United  States  : 

To  establish  post-oS:.3es  and  post-roads  : 

To  promote  the  progress  of  science  and  useful  arts,  l^y 
securing,  for  limited  times,  to  authors  and  inventors,  the  ex- 
clusive right  to  their  respective  writings  and  discoveries  : 

To  constitute  tribunals  inferior  to  the  Supreme  Court : 

To  define  and  punish  piracies  and  felonies  committed  on 
the  high  seas,  and  offences  against  the  law  of  nations  : 

To  declare  war,  grant  letters  of  marque  and  reprisal,  and 
make  rules  concerning  captures  on  land  and  water  ; 

To  raise  and  support  armies  ;  but  no  appropriation  of 
money  to  that  use  shall  be  for  a  longer  term  than  two  years  : 

To  provide  and  maintain  a  navy  : 

To  make  rules  for  the  government  and  regulation  of  the 
land  and  naval  forces  : 

To  provide  for  calling  forth  the  militia  to  execute  tlie  laws 
of  the  Union,  suppress  insurrections,  and  repel  invasions  : 

To  provide  for  organizing  arming,  and  disciplining  the 
militia,  and  for  governing  such  parts  of  them  as  may  be  em- 
ployed in  the  service  of  the  United  States,  reserving  to  the 
States  respectively,  the  appointment  of  the  officers,  and  the 
authority  of  training  the  militia  according  to  the  discipline 
prescribed  by  Congress  ; 

To  exercise  exclusive  legislation  in  all  cases  whatsoever, 
over  such  district  (not  exceeding  ten  miles  Square),  as  may, 


296        CONSTITUTION     OF     THK     UNITED     H     .^TKS. 

by  cession  of  particular  States,  aud  tlie  accef  lance  of  Con- 
gress, become  the  seat  of  Government  of  the  United  States, 
and  to  exercise  like  authority  over  all  places  purchased  by 
tlic  consent  of  the  Legislature  of  the  State  hi  which  the  same 
siiall  ])e,  for  the  erection  of  forts,  magazines,  arsenals,  dock- 
yards, and  other  needful  buildings  : — Aud 

To  make  all  laws  which  shall  be  necessary  and  proper  for 
carrying  into  execution  the  foregoing  powers,  and  all  other 
powers  vested  by  this  Constitution  in  the  Government  of  the 
United  States,  or  in  any  department  or  office  thereof. 

LIMITATIONS    OF    THE    POWER    OF    CONGRESS. 

§  9.  The  migration  or  importation  of  such  persons  as  any 
of  the  States  now  existing  shall  think  proper  to  admit,  shall 
not  be  prohibited  by  the  Congress,  prior  to  the  year  one 
thousand  eight  hundred  and  eight ;  but  a  tax  or  duty  may 
be  imposed  on  such  importation,  not  exceeding  ten  dollars 
for  each  person. 

The  privilege  of  the  v/rit  of  habeas  corpus  shall  not  be  sus- 
pended, unless  when,  in  case  of  relj^lMon  and  invasion,  the 
pubhc  safety  may  requke  it. 

Xo  bill  of  attainder  or  ex  post  facto  law  shall  be  passed. 

No  caption,  or  other  direct  tax  shall  be  laid,  unless  in  pro- 
portion to  the  census  or  enumeration  herein  before  directed  to 
be  taken. 

Xo  tax  or  duty  shall  be  put  on  articles  exported  from  any 
State.  No  preference  shall  be  given  by  any  regulation  of 
commerce  or  revenue  of  the  })orts  of  one  State  over  those 


CONSTITUTIflN     Ot      THE     UK.XED     STATES.        297 

of  anotlier  ;  nor  shall  vessels  bound  to  or  from  okc  State  be 
obliged  to  enter,  clear,  or  pay  duties  in  another. 

Z^o  money  shall  be  drawn  from  the  treasury,  but  in  conse- 
quence of  appropriations  made  by  law  ;  and  a  regular  state- 
ment and  account  of  the  receipts'  and  expenditures  of  all  pul> 
lie  money  shall  be  published  from  time  to  time. 

No  title  of  nobihty  shall  be  granted  by  the  United  States, 
and  no  person  holding  any  office  of  profit  or  trust  under  them, 
shall,  without  the  consent  of  the  Congress,  accept  of  any  pre- 
sent, emolument,  office,  or  title  of  any  kind  whatever,  from 
any  king,  prince,  or  foreign  State. 

LIMITATIONS    OF    THB    POWERS    OF    THE    INDIVIDUAL    STATES. 

§  10,  No  State  shall  enter  into  any  treaty,  alliance,  or 
confederation  ;  grant  letters  of  marque  and  reprisal ;  coin 
money  ;  emit  bills  of  credit ;  make  anything  but  gold  and 
silver  coin  a  tender  in  payment  of-  debts  ;  pass  any  bills  of 
attainder,  ex  post  facto  law,  or  law  impairing  the  obligation 
of  contracts  ;  or  grant  any  title  of  nobility, 

No  State  shall,  without  the  consent  of  the  Congress,  lay 
any  imposts  or  duties  on  imports  or  exports,  except  what  may 
be  absolutely  necessary  for  executing  its  inspection  laws ;  and 
the  net  produce  of  all  duties  and  imposts,  laid  by  any  State 
on  imports  or  exports,  shall  be  for  the  use  of  the  treasmy  of 
the  United  States  ;  all  such  laws  shall  be  subject  to  the 
revision  and  control  of  Congress.  No  State  shall,  without 
the  consent  of  Congress,  lay  any  duty  of  tonnage,  keep  troops 
or  ships  of  war,  in  time  of  peace,  enter  into  any  agreement  or 

13* 


298        CONSTITUTION     OF     THE     UNITED     ST.'TES 

compact  with  another  State,  or  with  a  foreign  power,  or 
engage  in  war,  unless  actually  invaded,  or  in  such  imminent 
danger  as  will  not  admit  of  delay. 

AIITICLE  IL 

THt    EXECUTIVE    POWER    TO   BE    VESTED    IN   A    PRESIDENT. 

§  1.  The  executive  power  shall  be  vested  in  a  President 
of  the  United  States  of  America.  He  shall  hold  his  office 
during  the  term  of  four  years,  and  together  with  the  Y ice- 
President,  chosen  for  the  same  term,  be  elected  as  follows  : 

MANNER    OF    ELECTING    THE   PRESIDENT   AND    VICE-PRESIDENT. 

Each  State  shall  appoint,  in  such  manner  as  the  Legislature 
thereof  may  direct,  a  number  of  electors,  equal  to  the  whole 
number  of  senators  and  representatives  to  which  the  State 
may  be  entitled  in  Congress  ;  but  no  senator  or  representa- 
tive, or  person  holding  an  office  of  trust  or  profit  under  the 
United  States,  shall  be  appointed  an  elector. 

[The  electors  shall  meet  in  their  respective  States,  and  vote 
by  ballot  for  two  persons,  of  whom  one  at  least  shall  not  be 
an  inhabitant  of  the  same  State  with  themselves.  And  they 
shall  make  a  list  of  all  the  persons  voted  for,  and  of  the  num- 
her  of  votes  for  each,  which  list  they  shall  sign  and  certify, 
and  transmit  sealed  to  the  seat  of  Government  of  the  United 
States,  directed  to  the  President  of  the  Senate  ;  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  Senate  shall,  in  presence  of  the  Senate  and  House 
of  Representatives,  open  all  the  certificates,  and  the  votes 
Khali  then  be  counted  :  the  person  having  the  greatest  num- 
ber of  votes  shall  be  the  President,  if  such  number  shall  be  a 


CONSTITUTION     01      THE     UNITED     STATES.        299 

majority  of  the  whole  num1)er  of  electors  appointed  ;  and  if 
there  be  more  than  one  who  have  such  majority,  and  have  an 
equal  number  of  votes,  then  the  House  of  Representatives 
shall  immediately  choose,  by  ballot,  one  of  them  for  Presi- 
dent ;  and  if  no  person  have  a  majority,  then,  from  the  five 
highest  on  the  list,  the  said  house  shall,  in  like  manner,  choose 
the  President.  But  in  choosing  the  President,  the  votes  shall 
be  taken  by  States,  the  representation  from  each  State  having 
one  vote  :  a  quorum  for  this  purpose  shall  consist  of  a  mem- 
ber or  members  from  two-thu-ds  of  the  States,  and  a  majority 
of  all  the  States  shall  be  necessary  to  a  choice.  In  every 
case,  after  the  choice  of  the  President,  the  person  having  the 
greatest  number  of  votes  of  the  electors,  shall  be  the  Vice- 
President.  But  if  there  should  remain  two  or  more  who  have 
equal  votes,  the  Senate  shall  choose  from  them,  by  ballot,  the 
Yice-President.*] 

The  Congress  may  determine  the  time  of  choosing  the 
electors,  and  the  day  on  which  they  shall  give  their  votes  ; 
which  day  shall  ])e  the  same  throughout  the  United  States. 

WHO    MAY    BE    ELECTED    PRESIDENT. 

No  person  except  a  natural  born  citizen,  or  a  citizen  of  the 
United  States  at  the  time  of  the  adoption  of  this  Constitu- 
tion, shall  be  eligible  to  the  office  of  President ;  neither  shall 
any  person  be  eligible  to  that  office  who  shall  not  have 
attained  the  age  of  thirty-five  years,  and  been  fourteen  years 
a  resident  within  the  United  States. 

*  This  paragraph  is  anniillecl. — See  Amendment,  Article  12. 


300         CONSTITUTION     OF     THE     UNITED     STATES. 

IN    CASE    OF    REMOVAL,    ETC.    OF    THE    PRESIDENT,    HIS    P0WER8 
TO    DEVOLVE    ON    VICE-PRESIDENT. 

In  case  of  the  removal  of  the  President  from  office,  or  of 
his  death,  resignation,  or  inabihty  to  discharge  the  powers 
and  duties  of  said  office,  the  same  shall  devolve  on  the  Yice- 
President,  and  the  Congress  may,  by  law,  provide  for  the  case 
of  removal,  death,  resignation,  or  inability,  both  of  the  Presi- 
dent and  Yice-Presideut,  declaring  what  officer  shall  the?i 
act  as  President,  and  such  officer  shall  act  accordingly,  until 
the  disability  be  removed,  or  a  President  shall  be  elected. 

president's    COMPENSATION — HIS    OATH. 

The  President  shall,  at  stated  times,  receive  for  his  ser- 
vices a  compensation,  which  shall  neither  be  increased  nor 
diminished  during  the  period  for  which  he  shall  have  been 
elected,  and  he  shall  not  receive  within  that  period  any  other 
emolument  from  the  United  States,  or  any  of  them. 

Before  he  enter  on  the  execution  of  his  office,  he  shall  take 
the  following  oath  or  affirmation  : — 

"I  do  solemnly  swear  (or  affirm)  that  I  will  faithfully 
execute  the  office  of  President  of  the  United  States,  and 
will,  to  the  best  of  my  ability,  preserve,  protec",  and  defend 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States." 

POWERS   AND    DUTIES    OF    THE    PRESIDENT. 

§  2.  The  President  shall  be  Commander-in-Chief  of  the 
army  and  navy  of  the  United  States,  and  of  the  militia  of  the 
several  States,  when  called  into  the  actual  service  of  the 
United  States  ;  he  may  require  the  opinion,  in  writing,  of  the 


CONSTITUTION     OF     T  :I  LI     UNITED     STATES.        301 

principal  officer  in  each  of  the  executive  departments,  upon 
any  subject  relating  to  the  duties  of  their  respective  offices  ; 
and  he  shall  have  power  to  grant  reprieves  and  pardons  for 
offences  against  the  United  States,  except  in  cases  of  im- 
pGachment. 

He  shall  have  power,  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent 
of  the  Senate,  to  make  treaties,  provided  two-thu-ds  of  the 
senators  present  concur  ;  and  he  shall  nominate,  and  by  and 
with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate,  shall  appoint  am- 
bassadors, other  public  ministers  and  consuls,  judges  of  the 
Supreme  Court,  and  all  other  officers  of  the  United  States, 
vx'liose  appointments  are  not  herein  otherwise  provided  for, 
;  iid  which  shall  be  established  bylaw:  but  the  Congress 
may,  l^y  law,  vest  the^ppointment  of  such  inferior  officers  as 
they  may  think  proper,  in  the  President  alone,  in  tlie  courts 
of  law,  or  in  the  heads  of  departments. 

The  President  shall  have  power  to  fill  up  all  vacancies  that 
may  happen  during  the  recess  of  the  Senate,  by  granting 
commissions,  which  shall  expire  at  the  end  of  tlieir  next 
session. 

§  3.  He  shall,  from  tjme  to  time,  give  to  the  Congress 
information  of  the  state  of  the  Union,  and  reconmieud  to  then* 
consideration  such  measures  as  he  shall  judge  necessary  and 
expedient  ;  he  may,  on  extraordinary  occasions,  con^'ene  both 
houses,  or  either  of  them,  and  in  case  of  disagreement  between 
hem,  with  respect  to  the  time  of  adjournment,  he  may 
adjourn  them  to  such  time  as  he  may  think  proper  ;  he  shall 
receive  ambassadors   and  other   public  ministers  ;    he  shall 


302      CONSTITUTION    OF    THE   uni":i:d    states 

take  care  that  the  laws  be  faithfully  executed,  and  sha  II  com- 
mission all  the  officers  of  the  United  States. 

HOW   THE    PRESIDENT,    AND   ALL    CIVIL   OFFICERS,    MAY    BE 
nEMOVED    FROM    OFFICE. 

§  4.  The  President,  Vice-President,  and  all  civil  officers 
of  the  United  States,  shall  be  removed  from  office  on 
impeachment  for,  and  conviction  of,  treason,  bribery,  or  other 
high  crimes  and  misdemeanors. 

ARTICLE  m. 

OF    THE    JUDICIAL   POWER — CONCERNING  THE  JUDGES. 

§  1.  The  judicial  power  of  the  United  States  shall  be 
vested  in  one  Supreme  Court,  and  in  such  inferior  courts  as 
the  Congress  may,  from  time  to  time,. ordain  and  establish. 
The  judges,  both  of  the  supreme  and  inferior  courts,  shall 
hold  their  offices  during  good  behavior  ;  and  sliall,  at  stated 
times,  receive  for  their  services  a  compensation,  which  shall 
not  be  dimuiished  during  their  continuance  in  office. 

EXTENT    OF    JUDICIAL    POWER. 

§  2.  The  judicial  power  shall  extend  to  all  cases,  in  law 
and  equity,  arising  under  this  Constitution,  the  laws  of  the 
United  States,  and  treaties  made,  or  which  shall  be  made, 
under  their  authority  ;  to  all  cases  affecting  ambassadors, 
other  pubhc  ministers  and  consuls  ;  to  all  cases  of  admiralty 
and  marine  jurisdiction  ;  to  controversies  to  which  the  United 
States  shall  be  a  party  ;  to  controversies  between  two  or 
more  States,  between  a  State  and  citizens  of  another  State  ; 
between  citizens  of  different  States  ;  between  citizens  of  the 


CONSTITUTION     OF     THE     UNITED     STATES.        303 

same  State,  claiming  lands  under  grants  of  different  States  ; 
and  between  a  State,  or  the  citizens  thereof,  and  foreign 
States,  citizens,  or  subjects. 

OF    THE    ORIGINAL    AND   APPELLATE    JURISDICTION    OF    THE 
SUPREME    COURT. 

In  all  cases  affecting  ambassadors,  other  public  ministers, 
and  consuls,  and  those  in  which  a  State  shall  be  a  party,  the 
Supreme  Com't  shall  have  original  jurisdiction.  In  all  the 
other  cases  before  mentioned,  the  Supreme  Court  shall  have 
appellate  jurisdiction,  both  as  to  law  and  fact,  with  such 
exceptions,  and  under  such  regulations,  as  the  Congress  shall 
make. 

OF    TRIALS    FOR    CRIME — OF  TREASON. 

The  trial  of  all  crimes,  except  in  cases  of  impeachment, 
shall  be  by  jury ;  and  such  trial  shall  be  held  in  the  State 
where  the  said  crunes  shall  have  been  committed  ;  but  when 
not  committed  within  any  State,  the  trial  shall  be  at  any 
such  place  or  places  as  the  Congress  may  by  law  have 
du-ected. 

§  3.  Treason  against  the  United  States  shall  consist  only 
in  levying  war  against  them,  or  in  adhering  to  their  enemies, 
giving  them  aid  and  comfort.  No  person  shall  be  convicted 
of  treason  unless  on  the  testimony  of  two  witnesses  to  the 
same  overt  act,  or  on  confession  in  open  court. 

The  Congress  shall  have  power  to  declare  the  punishment 
of  treason  ;  but  no  attainder  of  treason  shall  work  corruption 
of  blood,  or  forfeiture,  except  during  the  life  of  tlie  person 
attainted. 


304         CONSTITUTION     OF     THE     UNITED     STATES. 
ARTICLE  IV. 

FAITH    TO    DE    GIVEN    TO    PUBLIC    ACTS,    ETC.    OF    THE    STATES. 

§  1.  Full  faith  and  credit  shall  be  given  in  each  State  to 
the  public --acts,  records,  and  judicial  proceedings  of  every 
other  State.  And  the  Congress  may,  by  general  laws,  pre- 
scribe the  manner  in  which  such  acts,  records,  and  proceed- 
ings shall  be  proved,  and  the  effect  thereof. 

PRIVILEGES   OF    CITIZENS — FUGITIVES   FROM    JUSTICE     TO    BE 
DELIVERED    UP. 

§  2.  The  citizens  of  each  State  shall  be  entitled  to  all  pri- 
vileges and  immunities  of  citizens  in  the  several  States, 

A  person  charged  in  any  State  with  treason,  felony,  or 
other  crime,  who  shall  flee  from  justice,  and  be  found  in 
another  State,  shall,  on  demand  of  the  executive  authority  of 
the  State  from  which  he  fled,  be  delivered  up,  to  be  removed 
to  the  State  having  jurisdiction  of  the  crime, 

PERSONS    HELD    TO    SERVICE,    OR    LABOR,    TO    BE    DELIVERED    UP. 

No  person  held  to  service  or  labor  in  one  State,  under  the 
laws  thereof,  escaping  into  another,  shall,  in  consequence  of 
any  law  or  regulation  therein,  be  discharged  from  such  ser- 
vice or  labor,  but  shall  be  delivered  up  on  claim  of  the  party 
to  whom  such  service  or  labor  may  be  due. 

NEW    STATES    MAY    BE    ADMITTED. 

§  3.  New  States  may  be  admitted  iDy  the  Congress  into  this 
Union,  but  no  new  State  shall  be  formed  or  erected  within 
the  jurisdiction  of  any  other  State  ;  nor  any  State  be  formed 
by  the  junction  of  two  or  more  States,  or  parts  of  States, 


CONSTITUTION     OF     THE     UNITED     STATES,         30; 


without  the  conseu.  of  the  Legislatures  of  tlie  States  con- 
cerned, as  well  as  of  the  Congress. 


DISPOSAL    OF    TERRITORY    AND    OTHER    PROPERTY    OF    THE 
UNITED  STATES. 

The  Congress  shall  have  power  to  dispose  of  and  make  all 
needful  rules  and  regulations  respecting  the  territory  or  other 
property  belonging  to  the  United  States  ;  and  nothing  in  this 
Constitution  shall  be  so  construed  as  to  prejudice  any  claims 
of  the  United  States,  or  of  any  particular  State, 

GUARANTEE    AND    PROTECTION    OF    THE    STATES    BY   THE    UNION. 

§  4,  The  United  States  shall  guarantee  to  every  State  in 
this  Union  a  republican  form  of  goverament,  and  shall  protect 
each  of  them  against  invasion  ;  and  on  application  of  the 
legislatm'e,  or  of  the  Executive  (when  the  Legislature  cannot 
be  convened),  against  domestic  violence. 

ARTICLE  V. 

OF    AMENDMENTS    TO    THE    CONSTITUTION. 

The  Congress,  whenever  two  thirds  of  both  houses  shall 
deem  it  necessary,  shall  propose  amendments  to  this  Con- 
stitution, or  on  the  application  of  the  Legislatures  of  two 
thirds  of  the  several  States,  shall  call  a  convention  for  pro- 
posmg  amendments,  wiiich,  in  either  case,  shall  be  valid  to  all 
intents  and  purposes,  as  part  of  this  Constitution,  when  rati- 
fied by  the  Legislatures  of  three-fourths  of  the  several  States, 
or  by  conventions  in  three-fourths  thereof,  as  the  one  or  tho 
other  mode  of  ratification  may  be  proposed  by  the  Congress  : 
Provided,  that  no  amendment  w^iich  may  be  made  prior  to 


800        CONSTITUTION     OF     THE     UNITED     STATES. 

the  year  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  eiglt,  shall  in  any 
manner  affect  the  first  and  fourth  clauses  in  tfee  ninth  section 
of  the  first  article  ;  and  that  no  State,  without  its  consent, 
shall  be  deprived  of  its  equal  suffrage  in  the  Senate. 

ARTICLE  VI. 

FORMER    DKBTS   AND    ENGAGEMENTS    TO    REMAIN    VALID. 

All  debts  CDntracted,  and  engagements  entered  into,  before 
the  adoption  of  this  Constitution,  shall  be  as  valid  against 
the  United  States  under  this  Constitution,  as  under  the  Con- 
federation. 

THIS    CONSTITUTION,  THE    LAWS   AND    TREATIES   OF    THE    UNITED 
STATES,    TO    BE    THE    SUPREME    LAW    OF    THE    LAND 

This  Constitution,  and  the  laws  of  the  United  States  which 
shall  be  made  in  pursuance  thereof,  and  all  treaties  made,  or 
which  shall  be  made,  under  the  authority  of  the  United 
States,  shall  be  the  supreme  law  of  the  land  ;  and  the  judges 
in  every  State  shall  be  bound  thereby,  anything  in  the  Con- 
stitution or  laws  of  any  State  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding, 

OATH    TO    SUPPORT    THE    CONSTITUTION — NO    RELIGIOUS    TEST 
REQUIRED. 

The  senators  and  representatives  before  mentioned,  and  the 
members  of  the  several  State  Legislatures,  and  all  executive 
and  judicial  officers,  both  of  the  United  States  and  of  the 
several  States,  shall  be  bound  by  oath  or  affirmation,  to  sup- 
port this  Constitution  ;  but  no  rehgious  test  shall  ever  be 
required  as  a  qualifii  -^.tion  to  any  office  or  public  tru^"-.  under 
the  United  States. 


CONSTITUTIOX     OF     THE     UNITED     STATES.        30T 


ARTICLE  VII. 

WHEN    THIS    CONSTITUTION    WILL   TAKE    EFFECT. 

The  ratificatiou  of  the  couventions  of  mne  States  shall  be 
sufficient  for  the  estabhshmeut  of  this  Constitution  between 
the  States  so  ratifying  the  same. 

Done  in  convention,  by  the  unanimous  consent  of  the  States 
present,  the  Itth  day  of  September,  in  the  year  of  our 
Lord,  1787,  and  of  the  Independence  of  the  United 
States  of  America,  the  twelfth.  In  witness  whereof  we 
have  hereunto  subscribed  our  names. 

George  Washixgtox,  President, 

and  Deputy  from  Virginia. 
Delaware. 


New  Hampshire. 
John  Langdon, 
Nicholas  Oilman, 

Massachusetts. 
Nathaniel  Gorham, 
Rufus  King. 

Connecticut. 
Wm.  Samuel  Johnson, 
Roger  Sherman. 

New  York. 
Alexander  Hamilton. 

New  Jersey. 
William  Livingston, 
David  Brearly, 
William  Patterson, 
Jonathan  Dayton. 

Pennsylvania. 
Benjamin  Franklin, 
Thomas  Mifflii>/ 
Robert  Morris, 
George  Clymer. 
Thomas  Fitzsimons, 
Jared  Ingersoll, 
James  Wilson, 
Gouverneur  Morris. 

Attest, 


George  Reed, 
Gunning  Bedford,  Jr. 
John  Dickinson, 
Richard  Bassett. 
Jacob  Broom. 

Maryland. 
James  M' Henry, 
Daniel  of  St.  Thomas  Jenifer, 
Daniel  CarroU. 

Virginia. 
John  Blair, 
James  Madison,  Jr. 

North  Carolina. 
William  Blount, 
Richard  Dobbs  Spaight, 
Hugh  Williamson. 

South  Carolina. 
John  Rutledge, 
Charles  C.  Pinckney, 
Charles  Pinckney. 
Pierce  Butler. 

Grorgia. 
Willam  Fe^v, 
Abraham  PJaldwin 
William  Jacks^on.  Secretary. 


308        PONSTITUTION     OF     THE     UNITED     STATES. 


AMENDMENTS. 


ARTICLE  I 

FREE    EXERCISE    OF    RELIGION — FREEDOM    OF    PRESS — RIGHT    TO 
PETITION. 

Congress  shall  make  no  law  respecting  an  establishment 
of  religion,  or  prohibiting  the  '  free  exercise  thereof ;  or 
abridging  the  freedom  of  speech,  or  of  the  press  ;  or  the 
right  of  the  people  peaceably  to  assemble,  and  to  petition  the 
government  for  a  redress  of  grievances. 

ARTICLE  II. 

RIGHT    TO    BEAR   ARMS. 

A  well-regulated  militia  being  necessary  to  the  security  of 
a  free  State,  the  right  of  the  people  to  keep  and  bear  arms 
shall  not  be  infringed. 

ARTICLE  III. 

NO    SOl.DIER   TO   BE    BILLETED,   EXCEPT,  ETC 

No  soldier  shall,  i     time  of  peare,  be  quartered   in  any 


CONSTITUTION     OF     THE     UNITED     STATES.        309 

house  without  the  consent  of  the  owner  ;  nor  in  time  of  war, 
but  in  a  maimer  to  be  prescribed  by  law. 

ARTICLE  IV. 

UNREASONABLE    SEARCHES    PROHIBITED. 

The  right  of  the  people  to  be  secure  in  their  persons, 
houses,  papers,  and  effects,  against  unreasonable  searches  and 
seizures,  shall  not  be  violated  ;  and  no  warrants  shall  issue, 
but  upon  probable  cause,  supported  by  oath  or  affirmation, 
and  particularly  describing  the  place  to  be  searched,  and  the 
person  or  things  to  be  seized. 

ARTICLE  V. 

PROCEEDING   IN    CERTAIN   CRIMINAL    CASES. 

Xo  person  shall  be  held  to  answer  for  a  capital  or  other- 
wise infamous  crime,  unless  on  a  presentment  or  indictment 
of  a  grand  jury,  except  in  cases  arising  in  the  land  or  naval 
forces,  or  in  the  militia  when  in  actua.  service,  in  time  of  war 
or  public  danger  ;  nor  shall  any  person  be  subject  for  the 
same  offence  to  be  twice  put  in  jeopardy  of  life  or  limb  ;  nor 
shall  be  compelled,  in  any  criminal  case,  to  be  a  witness 
against  himself,  nor  be  deprived  of  life,  liberty,  or  property, 
mthout  due  process  of  law  ;  nor  shall  private  property  be 
taken  for  public  use  without  just  compensation. 

ARTICLE  VI. 

MODE  OF  TRIAL  IN  CRIMINAL  CASES. 

In  all  criminal  prosecutions  the  accused  shall  enjoy  the 
right  to  a  speedy  and  public  trial,  by  an  impartial  jury  of  the 


810        CONSTITUTION     OF     THE     UNITED     STATES. 

State  and  district  wherein  the  crime  shall  have  been  com- 
mitted, which  district  shall  have  been  previously  ascertauied 
by  law,  and  to  be  informed  of  the  nature  and  cause  of  the 
accusation  ;  to  be  confronted  with  the  witnesses  agakist  him  ; 
to  have  compulsory  process  for  obtaining  witnesses  in  his 
favor  ;  and  to  have  the  assistance  of  counsel  for  his  defence. 

ARTICLE  VII. 

IN    CIVIL    CASES. 

In  suits  at  common  law,  where  the  value  in  controversy 
shall  exceed  t^^-ent  j  dollars,  the  right  of  trial  by  jury  shall  be 
preserved ;  and  no  fact  tried  by  a  jury  shall  be  otherwise 
re-examined  in  any  court  of  the  United  States,  than  accord- 
ing to  the  rules  of  the  common  law. 

ARTICLE  VIII. 

CONCERNING    BAIL,    FINES,    AND    PUNISHMENTS 

Excessive  bail  shall  not  be  required,  nor  excessive  fines 
unposed,  nor  cruel  and  unusual  punishments  inflicted. 

ARTICLE  IX. 

RIGHTS    NOT    ENUMERATED. 

The  enumeration  in  the  Constitution  of  certain  rights,  shall 
not  be  construed  to  deny  or  disparage  others  retained  by  the 
people. 

ARTICLE  X. 

POWERS    RESERVED    TO   THE    PEOPLE. 

The  powers  not  delegated  to  the  United  States  by  the 
Constitution,  nor  prohibited  by  it  to  the  States,  are  reserved 
to  the  States  respectively,  or  to  the  people. 


CONSTITUTION     OF     THE     UNITED     STATES.        oli 
ARTICLE  XI. 

LIMITATION    OF    THE    JUDICIAL   POWER. 

The  judicial  power  of  the  Uuitecl  States  shall  not  be  coii- 
Btrued  to  extend  to  any  suit  in  law  or  equity,  commenced  or 
prosecuted  against  one  of  the  United  States  by  citizens  of 
another  State,  or  by  citizens  or  subjects  of  any  foreign  State. 

ARTICLE  XII. 

MANNER    OF    CHOOSING    PRESIDENT    AND    VICE-PRESIDENT. 

The  electors  shall  meet  in  their  respective  States,  and  vote 
by  ballot,  for  President  and  Vice-President,  one  of  whom  at 
least,  shall  not  be  an  inhabitant  of  the  same  State  with  them- 
selves ;  they  shall  name,  in  their  ballots,  the  person  voted  for 
as  President,  and  in  distinct  ballots  the  person  voted  for  as 
y ice-President  ;  and  they  shall  make  distinct  lists  of  all  per- 
sons voted  for  as  President,  and  of  all  persons  voted  for  as 
Yice-President,  and  of  the  number  of  votes  for  each,  which 
list  they  shall  sign  and  certify,  and  transmit,  sealed,  to  the 
seat  of  Government  of  the  United  States,  durected  to  the 
President  of  the  Senate.  The  President  of  the  Senate  shall, 
in  the  presence  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives, 
open  all  the  certificates,  and  the  votes  shall  then  be  counted. 
The  person  having  the  greatest  number  of  votes  for  Presi- 
dent, shall  be  the  President,  if  sucli  number  be  a  majority  of 
he  whole  number  of  the  electors  appointed  ;  and  if  no  person 
shall  have  such  majority,  then  from  the  persons  having  the 
highest  numbers,  not  ex'M^eding  thvee,  on  the  list  of  those 


312         CONSTITUTION     OF     THE      "NITED     STATES. 

voted  for  as  President,  the  House  of  Representatives  shall 
choose  immediately,  by  ballot,  the  President.  But  in  choos- 
ing* the  President,  the  votes  shall  be  taken  by  States,  the 
representation  from  each  State  having  one  vote  ;  a  quorum 
for  this  purpose  shall  consist  of  a  member  or  members  from 
two-thirds  of  the  States,  and  a  majority  of  all  the  States 
shall  be  necessary  to  a  choice.  And  if  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives shall  not  choose  a  President  whenever  the  right  of 
choice  shall  devolve  upon  them,  before  the  fourth  day  of 
March  next  following,  then  the  Yice-President  shall  act  as 
President,  as  in  case  of  the  death  or  other  constitutional  disa- 
bility of  the  President. 

The  person  having  the  greatest  number  of  votes  as  Vice- 
President,  shall  be  the  Yice-President,  if  such  number  be  a 
majority  of  the  whole  number  of  the  electors  appointed  ;  and 
if  no  person  have  a  majority,  then,  from  the  two  highest 
numbers  on  the  list,  the  Senate  shall  choose  the  Vice-Presi 
dent :  a  quorum  for  the  purpose  shall  consist  of  two-thii-ds 
of  the  whole  number  of  Senators,  and  a  majority  of  the  w^hole 
number  shall  be  necessary  to  a  choice.  But  no  person  con- 
stitutionally iueligible  to  the  office  of  President,  shall  be 
eligible  to  that  of  Vice-President  of  the  Urn*  ted  States. 


THE     END. 


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